De Angelis acquires Uncle Bucks
The family operated De Angelis Group has acquired the Uncle Bucks Hotel in Mt Druitt from the Lantern Group.
In its statement to the market, Lantern said the pub had been sold for $25.3 million, representing a 30.5 premium to its valuation on June 30.
The deal is expected to be finalised in early February.
According to CoreLogic RP Data records, the last time the pub changed hands was in 2005 for $18 million.
Lantern’s Campbelltown watering hole, The Ambarvale Hotel, has also been listed for sale.
Uncle Buck’s in Mount Druitt makes a nice fit strategically into the growing De Angelis western Sydney portfolio, which includes Burwood’s Bath Arms and Campbelltown’s Macarthur Tavern.
Sitting on a 5640 square metre site between the shopping centre and hospital, only minutes from Mt Druitt station, the pub is zoned B4 mixed use and comes with a 24-hour licence. It currently operates 27 electronic gaming machines.
Group Patriarch Peter De Angelis said it was a good deal for his company.
“Uncle Buck’s is exciting for us as a diversified purchase,” De Angelis told PubTIC.
“It has a great retail mix, contributing to the bottom line upside in both reach and height levels.”
“We have big plans for it. We identified it as undervalued and underdone six months ago.
“We’ll sit down and masterplan the whole site, adjust the hotel offering and look at how the retail components work, considering the height and FSR benefits.”
He said he will be taking his plans for the pub to the council.
The sale of Uncle Bucks is all part of Lantern’s strategy to sell non-core properties as part of its planned turnaround.
The pub sales have been fetching good prices for Lantern.
The last non-core’ pub Lantern sold, the Commodore Hotel, fetched a hefty 46.5 per cent premium to its book value at 30 June, 2016.
November 8th 2016
