The DNZ Property Fund, soon to be renamed Stride Property, is to buy 19 Countdown supermarket sites in a deal worth $287 million, which it says will boost earnings.
The Auckland-based property investor will buy the supermarket sites, which are scattered around the country and leased to Woolworths, from Antipodean Supermarkets and Antipodean Properties.
DNZ chairman Tim Storey said the acquisition would lift the company's distributable profit per share by between 1.3 and 1.8 percent in the first three years of ownership.
He said the company was also looking at broadening the scope of its business, which the latest deal may help them achieve.
"We believe there might be good opportunities to look at how we might restructure our business to the benefit of shareholders," he said.
Mr Storey said DNZ expected to have some ideas to put to shareholders later in the year.
DNZ is funding the supermarket sites deal through a mix of debt, an underwritten share placement to investors worth $114m, and $115m from existing shareholders through a share purchase plan.
DNZ shares have been placed on a trading halt until the share placement is completed.
It also said it expected to pay an increased dividend of 10.75 cents a share next year, and at least 11.25 cents in 2017.
