ALH and Charter Hall have partnered once again to buy the Tandara Hotel in Sarina, Queensland.
The Mackay region pub is the latest purchase in the ALH/Charter Hall partnership, having only recently acquired The Emu Hotel and bottleshop in Adelaide for $32 million. Charter Hall – which is now the pub industry’s largest property partner – has acquired the freehold interest, while ALH has taken on a long-term lease of the pub operation.
The national campaign for the Tandara Hotel sale was led by HTL Property’s Glenn Price and Brent McCarthy.
The Tandara Hotel occupies a 5,100sqm corner block in the centre of town, enjoying street frontages to both the Bruce Highway and Central Street. Its offer includes 31 tightly held Coastal QLD gaming machine authorities, 15 motel rooms, a dual lane drive-through bottle shop, TAB, public bar, beer garden and bistro. The pubs is reported to generate income with an even spread across all departments.
ALH have acquired the business from Waratah Hotel Group, an unlisted and stapled property investment group actively participating in hotel and accommodation assets across Australia. Only a fortnight ago the group sold the Diplomat Hotel in Alice Springs to Iris Capital – a transaction which was also handled by Price and McCarthy.
“Numerous seasoned syndicators like Waratah Hotel Group and The Duxton Group are taking advantage of buoyant market conditions, repositioning their respective portfolios through the divestment of assets and the strategic acquisition of others,” stated Price.
“This activity has also led to a new wave of investment capital and unlisted vehicles such as Harvest Hotel Group, which has itself been breaking significant ground upon the national landscape, drawn to it by the competitive benefits of scale.”
The Waratah Group led by CEO Darren Baker, announced in July a special distribution of 30.0c per unit to stakeholders for the 2022 financial year. This payment was in addition to the 8.0c per unit distribution that Waratah had already paid to stakeholders for FY2022.
The distribution resulted from the successful completion of a number of transactions, including the sale of the Amaroo Tavern Moree (NSW) which was settled in December 2021; and the Victoria Hotel Wagga Wagga (NSW) which was settled in May 2022.
“HTL Property continues to enjoy the solid relationship it operates with all stakeholders involved in the Sarina transaction, having now acted for and sold many properties to, the respective parties highlighted,” stated McCarthy.
“Accordingly, the hotel industry continues to see the national corporate players adding to their portfolios, ensuring revenue growth and acquisition targets are duly met.”
ALH operates more than 350 pubs nationally.