By Clyde Mooney – editor Australian Hotelier
Laundy Hotel Group has successfully sold four out of five hotels recently listed in a move to 'fine-tune' its portfolio.
Winding up an Expression of Interest campaign through agents Ray White Hotels, Knight Frank and Manenti Quinlan, transactions were completed on Balmain's Cat & Fiddle, Rozelle's Garry Owen Hotel, Newcastle's Crown & Anchor, and over the weekend, Waverley's Charing Cross Hotel.
Ray White's Andrew Jolliffe said the established sub-$10 million freeholds on corner sites attracted "unprecedented interest" from both new entrants and experienced publicans, and indicates something of an imbalance in asset supply and demand.
"Like my colleagues in this sale campaign, we are seeing a shortage of supply, not demand; the opportunity to crystallize an exit regarding a hotel investment has rarely been better." [continued below]
Charing Cross Hotel
The Laundys have their eyes on larger offerings, with Stu Laundy confirming to TheShout that the pubs sold were "somewhat superfluous to [their] interests".
"There are several sizeable opportunities that we are looking at, and at the moment we are just cleaning house," said Stu Laundy.
When questioned whether or not the Newport Arms was one of the upcoming projects, Laundy replied definitively that "no – it is not".
Laundy said his father, Laundy Group founder Arthur Laundy, had recently taken a shine to the Hotel William, the only property that didn't attract sufficient interest in the EOI campaign.
"During the process, dad got re-invigorated on the William; he's going to spend a little money on it and do it up," said Stu Laundy.
"It's his pet project. I told him 'Good luck!' "