Rural services company PGG Wrightson expects to add about $5 million to its balance sheet with the sale of 15 properties it no longer needs after last year's merger.
The properties include historic PGG buildings in Timaru and Invercargill as well as buildings and land in 11 other rural centres.
Last year, the country's two biggest rural services companies Wrightson and Pyne Gould Guinness merged to form PGG Wrightson - a giant with annual revenue of more than $1 billion.
PGG Wrightson has forecast a net profit of $30 million in its first year of combined trading to the end of June 2006.
The properties will be auctioned in late February and early March.
Real estate project manager Max Lyver said most of the property could be easily adapted for use as shops, cafes and workshops.
Chief operating officer Hugh Martyn said the company would continue to have a strong presence in each of the 13 rural centres involved in the auction process.
With the merger nearly completed, the company now had operations in 200 sites nationwide.
