Cook Property’s Ben Cook selling another Bunnings in $43m deal with Investore

Multimillionaire property investor Ben Cook of Cook Property is selling another Bunnings in Auckland.

Multi-millionaire property investor Ben Cook of Cook Property is selling another Bunnings in Auckland as he fulfils his plan to sell holdings in this country and take more than $100 million to Australia.

The $1 billion NZX-listed specialist retail entity Investore Property told the NZX on Friday it would add another Bunnings to its portfolio via the Bunnings New Lynn store.

Cook, managing director and founder of the business, has also sold the Ponsonby Post Office recently for about $7m.

He owns Bunnings New Lynn via New Lynn Retail, registered in 2020.

Cook Property says the store is a purpose-built trade retail premises on the corner of Great North Road and Titirangi Rd, on a 12-year lease.

Investore chairman Mike Allen said the 11,000sq m store was in a key metropolitan area, underpinned by a quality tenant.

Investore bought Bunnings Westgate for $51m from Cook Property.

Investore already owns Bunnings Hamilton and Mitre 10 Mega Botany.

Last year, it bought Bunnings Westgate for $51m from Cook Property.

In 2023, the Herald reported Cook as one of the country’s biggest private retail real estate investors, quitting New Zealand for Australia - sparking a $100m-plus sell-off.

He feels nothing negative about this country, loves it, but has had a house in Sydney since 2001.

Asked about the Bunnings New Lynn sale, Cook said: “Not much new news here, just a continuation of my decision to divest out of New Zealand and do something different for the next 50 years.”

His portfolio once spanned from Auckland to Central Otago, including a string of Countdown supermarkets and Bunnings in Auckland and Hamilton, the Ponsonby Post Office, Farmers on Queen St in the CBD, Northcote’s Engine Room restaurant and Britomart’s red brick Brew on Quay.

Ben Cook bought the former Ponsonby Post Office in 2016 for $5m. The building is home to Hotel Ponsonby and the Skin Institute.

Sydney is now his home base and says he doesn’t plan on returning to New Zealand.

In 2023, Cook and business associate and fellow investor Kurt Gibbons sold a supermarket, valued at $30m-plus, in a deal brokered by Colliers.

That was the Countdown Māngere East.

Cook and Gibbons held that property in Māngere - Cook owned the majority and Gibbons had 49%.

Collier’s Blair Peterken was involved in that deal and also announced the sale of Bunnings New Lynn today citing other colleagues on that deal.

Ben Cook owns this Herne Bay residence - one of New Zealand’s most valuable residential properties.

Cook owns one of NZ’s most valuable residential properties.

The modernist home is on a large Herne Bay waterfront site, developed by surgeon John Dunn and his wife Rose.

That house has its own helicopter pad.

Cook said in 2023 that it was not true the home had sold and nor was it for sale.

On Friday, Bunnings New Lynn’s sale was announced.

Kurt Gibbons owned properties with Ben Cook. Photo / Michael Craig

Investore chairman Mike Allan said an unconditional agreement was struck on the property at 2 to 12 Titirangi Rd.

The high-profile 2.2ha corner site is leased for a weighted average of seven years. Investore said the lease had the benefit of a structured rental growth profile, making it an attractive addition to the business.

Settlement is due on July 4.

Investore’s latest annual report said Bunnings Westgate is the largest Bunnings in New Zealand and Auckland’s newest Bunnings store. This property also has a structured rental growth profile and the passing yield on acquisition was 6.2%.

The company has 43 properties ranging from standalone supermarkets and hardware stores to large format retail centres, with a high concentration of nationally recognised brands and tenants.

Anne Gibson has been the Herald‘s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.