Lantern Hotel Group sells pubs
The ASX listed Lantern Hotels Group has sold two hotels this month.
The sale is part of Lantern’s strategy to offload non-core hotels.
The first pub sold was the GPO Hotel in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane. The hotel, sold at the beginning of May, came at a price of $5.25 million, a 28 per cent premium to its December 2015 book value.
The hotel is leased until 2019 with four further 10-year options. It has dual street frontage, and is highly visible for anyone moving through the Valley Heart precinct.
“In keeping with its transformation plan which includes the divestment on non-core hotels, Lantern has successfully divested five hotels in the last nine months and subject to the GPO sale completing in June, this number will increase to six,” Lantern said.
That was followed by the sale of the Bowral Hotel which was sold on 17 May for $6.35 million which represented a 22 per cent premium to its 2015 book value.
Lantern said negotiations were now underway for the sale of the Lawson Park Hotel in Mudgee New South Wales.
The two hotels were sold by CBRE Hotels.
Daniel Dragicevich, who was appointed to oversee both hotel sales,m said the Bowral Hotel had attracted a lot of interest.
“The sales campaign was a success on every level attracting over 50 genuine enquiries throughout the process and 13 initial offers,” Mr Dragicevich told The Shout.
“The current strength of the hotel market continues to drive sales results of this quality and we expect no slowing down in the near term.
“The eventual purchaser was an existing hotelier and industry identity who was a ‘great fit’ for the asset and will significantly enhance the current offering for the benefit of the Southern Highlands region as a whole.”
CBRE Hotels director, Glenn Price, who also led the sale campaign, said these sorts of hotels were becoming increasingly popular.
“The market for passive hotel investments has been particularly strong recently as investors seek the safety of long terms leases to experienced operators with strong rental growth prospects,” Price told The Shout.
by Leon Gettler, May 19th 2016
