Drury quarry sold to Fulton Hogan
Fulton Hogan has agreed to buy the quarrying and concrete plant assets of a long-time player in Auckland’s construction industry.
Stevenson Group, which was founded in 1917, is building a 360ha business park and housing area Drury.
The sale leaves Stevenson’s with its property development and mining operations. But the company will sell its quarrying and concrete businesses, as well as its transport and laboratory assets, involving more than 200 staff.
Stevenson’s chief executive Mark Franklin said it was good to see the businesses go to another family operation.
‘‘It’s the culmination of a strategy agreed by shareholders three years ago,’’ he said.
‘‘We’ve held these businesses for a long time and I think it’s fair to say another party might be a more valuable owner of these assets going forward.’’
Earlier this year it was speculated that the Stevenson assets up for sale were worth around $300 million.
Franklin said the sale would help free up the balance sheet as the company focussed more on Drury South.
The company is in the first year of a five to eight-year development project on land between its Drury quarry and the motorway, which will ultimately house a business park and 700 to 800 dwellings, involving ‘‘hundreds of millions of dollars’’.
Elsewhere in Drury, developer Charles Ma is building another 1350 houses, Fulton Hogan was involved in roading, and Kiwi Property had bought land for a large commercial area and town centre.
The aim is to build a satellite town in Auckland’s south with good connections to major arterials. ‘‘It’s probably a 20-year project for everybody,’’ Franklin said.
Fulton Hogan’s Group chief executive Cos Bruyn said that the Stevenson purchase would complement his company’s vertical supply chain.
‘‘We look forward to welcoming Stevenson’s 200-plus strong workforce to the Fulton Hogan family once the purchase is complete,’’ Bryyn said.
Franklin also thanked the staff and customers ‘‘on behalf of multiple generations of the Stevenson family’’ over the past 100 years.
He said that New Zealand’s infrastructure sector would need ‘‘a lot more efficient planning’’ over the next decade .
‘‘Because we’re in deficit, we’ve got a lot of catching up to do, we just need to make sure the investment and human resources are available to do that.’’
The sale is expected to be settled by the end of July.
The Stevenson family previously sold its Lochinvar Station to companies linked to the Spencer family.