Bunnings gets go-ahead to buy land

Expansion-minded Australian hardware group Bunnings Warehouse has bought a large slice of Wellington land.

The Overseas Investment Office has cleared the building materials, gardening, homeware and outdoor equipment chain to complete a deal to buy 4.1ha of Paraparaumu land for an undisclosed sum.

Bunnings said it intended building a hardware store on the land at 20 Milne Drive as part of its expansion here. It acquired the land from Golftech, which is owned by a group of New Zealanders.

The chain operates under the Bunnings Warehouse and Benchmark Building Supplies brand names and the OIO said it had approved the deal partly because new jobs would be created. It has approved 113 deals in the year to August, down on the 117 applications approved for the same time last year.

Foreigners have been involved in transactions worth $6.4 billion in the last year, down on deals involving $7.6 billion at the same time last year.

The total amount of land involved has risen, from 97,412ha last year to 115,083ha this year.