Iris pays $14 million for pub

HOTEL group Iris Capital has bought the Napoleon’s Hotel at Riverwood in Sydney’s south for about $14 million.

Napolean's Hotel at Riverwood (Photo : River Hotel)

The pub purchase comes on the back of a busy period for Iris, which has sought to buy pubs that have the potential for the development of apartments on the site.

In December the group paid about $11m for the Grumpy’s Hotel in Sydney’s Hurlstone Park, and spent $20m for the Cock and Bull Hotel in Bondi.

Iris Capital chief executive Sam Arnaout said the group may eventually develop apartments next to all of the purchased pubs.

“The diversification of the groups development arm is allowing it to have the dual focus of both hotels and development as there are opportunities to acquire (these sites),” Mr Arnaout said.

He was tight-lipped about plans for an initial public offering of the company, which he last year said was a possibility.

Napoleon’s Hotel was purchased from industry stalwarts the Stanford family.

Source : The Australian Business Review    Greg Brown       February 5th 2015