Fund-vs-fund · Australasian Equities
Harbour Long Short Fund vs Kernel NZ Small & Mid Cap Opportunities Fund
Both are Australasian Equities funds available to NZ retail investors. Numbers below are sourced from the FMA Disclose register via Sorted Smart Investor and reflect the latest published quarterly fund updates.
What's different at a glance
- Kernel NZ Small & Mid Cap Opportunities Fund charges 0.98% lower in annual fund charges (0.25% vs 1.23%).
- Both are New Zealand PIE funds — investor tax is capped at the Prescribed Investor Rate (PIR), maximum 28%.
- Harbour Long Short Fund is roughly 6.1× the size of the other fund.
Where each fund sits in its cohort
Percentile rank vs all 58 australasian equities funds we've matched on Sorted Smart Investor. Mechanical only — no opinion, no forward-looking view.
Annual fund charge
Lower is better
Harbour
1.23%
Highest 18% of cohort
Kernel
0.25%
Lowest 10% of cohort
5-year return p.a.
Past performance — not a predictor
Harbour
1.76%
Upper half over 5 years
Kernel
—
—
Fund size
Larger = more stable, lower close-risk
Harbour
NZ$5m
Smallest 6% in cohort
Kernel
NZ$863k
Smallest 1% in cohort
| Metric | Harbour | Kernel | Lower / higher is |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual fund charge | 1.23% | 0.25% | Lower is better |
| Risk indicator (1–7) | 4 | 5 | Higher = more volatility |
| 5-year return p.a. | 1.76% | — | Higher is better (past not future) |
| Fund size | NZ$5m | NZ$863k | Larger = more stable, lower close-risk |
| Growth / income split | 23% / 77% | 98% / 2% | More growth = higher long-run return + volatility |
| NZ tax structure | PIE (PIR-capped) | PIE (PIR-capped) | PIE = simpler. FIF = annual return. |
| Currency hedging | — | — | Hedged smooths NZD/foreign FX moves at a small cost. |
| Responsible investment screening | No | No | Specific exclusions live in each fund's SIPO. |
| Available via | InvestNow · Direct | Direct | Platforms accepting retail subscriptions. |
Portfolio overlap
How many top-10 positions both funds hold, and at what weight. Computed from each fund's most recently disclosed top-10 holdings — exact-name matched (Microsoft Corp. = Microsoft Corporation), with a Cash / Cash & Equivalents collapse rule.
What each fund says it does
Harbour
Harbour Long Short Fund
The Fund is an actively managed, high conviction portfolio investing principally in long and short listed Australasian equities. The focus is on delivering positive returns through the market cycle by investing in long and short sold equity positions with no particular attention to an equity benchmark. The Fund is expected to have lower volatility than equity benchmarks. We can actively allocate investments between Australasian listed equities, fixed interest and cash. The Fund may also use derivatives to hedge currency and equity risk.Full Harbour Harbour Long Short Fund profile →
Kernel
Kernel NZ Small & Mid Cap Opportunities Fund
The fund is passively managed and invests in NZX listed financial products whose normal free-float market capitalisation is between $75 million and $1.25 billion and who are outside of the S&P/NZX 20 IndexFull Kernel Kernel NZ Small & Mid Cap Opportunities Fund profile →
Documents
Crawled directly from each manager's website. How we record provenance →
Harbour
LiveLast verified 2026-05-08
- Supporting document7507 kB · file fingerprint recorded
- Supporting document2611 kB · file fingerprint recorded
- Supporting document3223 kB · file fingerprint recorded
- Supporting document2469 kB · file fingerprint recorded
- Supporting document8447 kB · file fingerprint recorded
- Supporting document4303 kB · file fingerprint recorded
- + 9 more on the fund page
Kernel
Common questions
What's the difference between the Harbour Long Short Fund and the Kernel NZ Small & Mid Cap Opportunities Fund?
Which fund has lower fees, Harbour Long Short Fund or Kernel NZ Small & Mid Cap Opportunities Fund?
Are both funds PIE-taxed in NZ?
Where can I read the official documents for these funds?
