Some of the $1 million was also to go on an investment management information system.

The New Zealand Superannuation Fund has a target of about 13% of assets in private equity and was due to start investing in that area soon.

However the Treasury advised Finance Minister Michael Cullen that the Guardians had already received a $1.2 million increase in their funding the previous year - a 72% increase.

The present level of funding for the Guardians is $3 million a year, and that level was held in this year’s Budget.

The Treasury advised that a performance review of the Guardians was due in October, and that any new money should wait until that was completed.

That performance review has been brought forward and will now take place in August or September, Guardians’ chief executive Paul Costello told Good Returns.

“We’re keen to add those kinds of assets to our portfolio but we think the risks involved are different and we need to understand them – we need to have access to people to get our thinking clear on how to approach those assets.”

Most of the research would go on private equity assets, he says.

“It is a relatively new area, and it does need more research. Infrastructure is of interest but to a lesser extent – there aren’t as many opportunities available to investors.

“And forestry is another asset class would be appropriate for us.”

The Guardians are not able to use money or returns from the fund for research – for reasons of accountability, that kind of work has to be funded by the government.