Bunnings chairman retires

BILL Cairns has announced his retirement from the board of the Bunnings Warehouse Property Trust.

Cairns has served as chairman for over nine years since the establishment of the trust in 1998.

The board also announced the unanimous appointment of John Austin to succeed Cairns.

Austin joined the board in 2004 and has been actively involved in professional property investment markets for over 36 years, during time which he has been a proprietor of Jones Lang Wootton and an advisor in institutional property markets.

He is currently executive chairman of Ringmer Pacific, a private property investment company, chairman of Leighton Properties and is a non-executive director of the MREEF series of unlisted private property funds, managed by Macquarie Bank.

The board also announced the appointment of Rick Higgins as a director of Bunnings Property Management.

Higgins is currently the national director of business development for Colliers International and will be retiring from this role in December 2007.

Australian Property Journal