Strategic partnership to strengthen provincial real estate

Strategic partnership to strengthen provincial real estate

Farmlands Real Estate and Property Brokers are combining to establish a specialised, nationwide real estate and property management* service with aspirations to lead the provincial realty market.

This long-term strategic partnership will provide a broader footprint, increased scale, more resources and improved service for customers, including Farmlands' 70,000 shareholders and Property Brokers' provincial client base.

With settlement confirmed today, Property Brokers now owns and manages the day-to-day real estate business created from the agreement. Farmlands Co-operative will continue to support real estate through its extensive network, events, customer loyalty programme and shareholder discounts.

Via this long-term partnership, the co-operative retains its investment in real estate and will receive a contribution on future sales.

Farmlands' farmer-grower shareholders still receive special real estate offers as part of their co-operative ownership model – including an exclusive discount on commission and Choices Rewards Points (the co-operative's customer loyalty scheme).

A large store network has been created, with existing Property Brokers sites throughout New Zealand being supplemented by most of the co-operative's real estate offices. The combination of breadth and depth is something both company CEOs are excited about.

"Farmlands Co-operative has a strong network, highly regarded brand and expert knowledge of the rural sector. Property Brokers is a business that solely focuses on real estate – we know and understand provincial property and real estate agents," Conrad Wilkshire, Property Brokers General Manager Rural says.

"We are a growing business, and our real estate track record is backed up with strong training, systems and marketing support."

Tim Mordaunt, Chairman of Property Brokers, says the new partnership will give the pair 20 percent share of the rural property market.

"Farmlands is one of the largest players in rural New Zealand. Bringing Farmlands and Property Brokers together, with a network of offices, scaled-up infrastructure and a focused realty business is very exciting," Tim says.

"Together, we aspire to grow our market share considerably."

Farmlands Chief Executive Peter Reidie believes the partnership between the co-operative's real estate arm and Property Brokers is a great result for shareholders.

"We are an ambitious business and to achieve the size and scale we want for our shareholders, we have partnered with a nationwide brand that has a proven track record in this highly specialised service," Peter says.

"More customers up and down the country will now have access to specialist rural, lifestyle and residential real estate services and property management*."

That partnership reach will take Property Brokers to over 700 staff across 64 locations, from Kaitaia to Invercargill.*

"Together, we can grow this business on a scale we could not achieve on our own," Peter says.

Tim agrees, "We are excited to welcome the Farmlands Real Estate team into our family and are determined that this will be the beginning of a market-leading business model."

* Farmlands will continue to administer its property management portfolio and its West Coast real estate sites, pending Commerce Commission clearance.

Background information

Property Brokers is one of New Zealand's most prominent provincial real estate and property management providers, with more than 30 years of experience. Property Brokers' network currently consists of 45 branches and more than 650 staff nationwide.

Farmlands Co-operative was established over 50 years ago to reduce farmers’ input costs and is now the nation's largest farmer-owned co-operative. Its extensive network of stores, services and staff are supported by the buying power of the Farmlands Card.

Rural and lifestyle real estate buyers and sellers will be able to utilise the expertise of both Farmlands and Property Brokers from 15th November.

ENDS

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