The David Paradice-backed listed skydiving company Skydive the Beach will raise $19.6 million in capital to buy New Zealand's largest tandem skydiving company, Nzone, as it expands overseas and pushes to gain a foothold into other adventure and leisure activities.

Chief executive of Skydive the Beach Anthony Boucaut, who founded the business in the NSW coastal city of Wollongong in 1999, said it made sense to expand into New Zealand, which touts itself as the adventure capital of the world, as the lower dollar helped drive international tourism. The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows the number of short-term arrivals from China, Hong Kong and India rose by 16 per cent in August and New Zealand had a record 3 million visitors in the last financial year.