KEY POINTS:
Hardware retailer Bunnings has almost finished building a new 11,000sq m warehouse retail store in Mt Roskill.
The DIY chain this month completed the sale and leaseback of 11 retail warehouse properties here and in Australia, netting the company A$203 million ($227 million).
Dominion Funds Management, headed by chief executive Paul Duffy in Auckland, bought Bunnings stores in Hamilton, Palmerston North, Naenae, Whangarei and Rotorua. Australian fund Charter Hall bought Bunnings' six properties in Australia.
Bunnings, owned by Wesfarmers, said these 11 deals would be settled by the end of this month. Net profits from the sales would substantially lift second-half profits from property development.
Bunnings said yesterday builder Naylor Love, which had also built Bunnings' new store in Whangarei last year, was putting up the new warehouse in Mt Roskill.
The Mt Roskill store, due to open in August, will have 45,000 product lines, employ 120 people and have a two-level carpark deck for 386 vehicles, the retailer said.
The company was now looking for more properties, including "landbanking and leasehold developments with land owners for small and larger format stores".
The chain has 13 large-format warehouse stores and 25 small-format outlets in New Zealand and is planning to expand with two new South Island stores and another in central Wellington.
