Home Retail and Travis Perkins have bought 34 Focus DIY branches between them.
Home Retail said it signed a contract to purchase 27 leasehold properties for £40m cash.

Travis Perkins announced that its subsidiary company, Wickes has agreed to acquire seven stores for £4m.

Home Retail said the properties are expected to be transferred over the period up to December 31, 2007 and will then be re-fitted to the Homebase fascia in readiness for Spring.

The Group added that no other infrastructure and no merchandise stock are being acquired as part of the transaction.

The cost of re-fitting is expected to amount to £30m in addition to transitional operating costs of £15m.

Commenting on the purchase, Terry Duddy, ceo of Home Retail Group,
said: "The purchase of these properties enables us to accelerate Homebase's opening programme and the ongoing management of our store portfolio."

Meanwhile, Travis Perkins said its acquired stores are well located and fit well with the group's successful Wickes retail home improvement format.

All seven will be immediately converted to Wickes, increasing the Wickes network to 190 stores.

Geoff Cooper, chief executive of Travis Perkins said: "The acquisition of these seven stores further expands our Wickes network, and will help us continue our recent gains in like-for-like and total market share."