Western Sydney pub family the Stanfords have divested their third and final gaming venue, Pub @ Rivo, and reaped $160m for the portfolio.
The new owner is a private Sydney consortium led by PwC Australia legal partner Andrew Wheeler, according to a report in the Australian Financial Review.
The Stanfords also recently sold their Carousel Inn in Rooty Hill to Solotel and their Vineyard hotel on the outer north-western suburbs, reportedly to Andrew Lazarus.
Pub @ Rivo is located in Sydney’s Riverstone and has multiple street frontages, a strong food and beverage offer, gaming and wagering patronage, and is well known for its large beer garden.
It is also situated next to the Riverstone railway station and the proposed Riverstone town centre, and is well-positioned in a major growth corridor of Sydney, according to HTL Property which managed all three deals.
HTL Property said the Stanford family engaged the group three months ago to help them exit the industry through the sale of their privately-owned Bittini Collection comprising the three large-format hotels all located in Sydney’s north-west.
“As a family, which is what this business is, we are delighted to have exited the industry after almost 50 years in such a clinical and transparent manner,” Glen Stanford said.
“These assets are more than simply businesses to us, and we are thrilled that they have been both sought after and acquired in the manner it was proposed to us by HTL they would.”
HTL Property MD Andrew Jolliffe said, “The circa $160m Stanford portfolio sale has unmistakably set new benchmarks for both sale prices and exit yields achieved, and commensurately, it has certainly been a prosperous year for this most robust of property classes.”
HTL Property’s national pubs director Dan Dragicevich said that although the Riverstone sale was the last of the three Bittini Hotels to go to market, it was equally as sought after.
“Separately, what the robust interest in each of the three has exemplified, is a market within which quality assets demand attention,” Dragicevich said.
“All macro factors aside, including low interest rates and Covid bounce amongst others, each Bittini pub provided extremely rare Western Sydney growth corridor real estate; as well as large under roof trading footprints and each enjoying strategic arterial positioning.”