Dunedin businessman Wayne Graham has been handed a new challenge - overseeing the expansion of the LJ Hooker Ltd empire in New Zealand.
The Australian company announced yesterday it had bought rival real estate firm Harveys in New Zealand for an undisclosed sum.
L. Janusz Hooker, a grandson of the founder, bought the company back from Suncorp last November with a group of private investors and this is the first major acquisition since the change of ownership.
LJ Hooker uses a franchise model and has been in New Zealand since 1998.
Mr Graham, who owns and operates the Dunedin and Mosgiel branches, was appointed chairman of the LJ Hooker New Zealand board four months ago.
He was in Auckland last night with Mr Hooker.
Mr Hooker said Mr Graham would be a "key part of the team" which would see LJ Hooker expand from 54 officers to 89 with the takeover of the Harveys chain.
Part of the attraction of the purchase was that there would be very little crossover between LJ Hooker and Harveys offices, Mr Hooker said.
Harveys was particularly strong in parts of Auckland where LJ Hooker was not, and had 15 offices in parts of the country where LJ Hooker was not represented.
"It was a good fit for us."
There are no Harveys offices south of Timaru, according to the company's website.
The office in Dunedin closed in 2008.
No conclusions had been reached about what would happen in areas where there was crossover, Mr Hooker said.
"There is unlikely to be any fallout out in the network ... It is unlikely we will lose any agents."
The combined business would have 5000 sales per annum, or 10% of the New Zealand market, he said.
The purchase was "the first step in the strategy which will see us take a leading role in the market".
"We have a long list of single offices, and also groups of offices in New Zealand, we are having discussions with."
