Melbourne pub millionaire Mazen Tabet snaps up Portsea Hotel for $17 million
THE Portsea Hotel has been quietly sold by its rich-listed owner for more than $17 million.
Computershare founder Chris Morris sold the freehold to one of Victoria’s best-known bayside pubs in a deal bedded down in late November.
Melbourne-based pub millionaire Mazen Tabet bought it for $17.1 million via the new company, Portsea Retail Fund.
Mr Morris, 67, was part of a syndicate that paid $9.3 million for the 140-year-old pub in 1999. He took full control three years ago.
Mr Morris made more than $700 million by founding the share registry business, Computershare.
The hotel is a favoured summer drinking destination for some of Victoria’s wealthiest families.
Its leasehold will continue to be owned and managed by Mr Morris’s private hospitality compny, the Colonial Leisure Group.
Colonial Leisure owns or operates 25 venues across Australia and in Britain.
Its Victorian venues include the Albert Park Hotel, Half Moon in Brighton, Penny Black in Brunswick, Robert Burns Hotel in Collingwood and Botanical in South Yarra.
Colonial Leisure national general manager Lawrence Dowd said it would be “business as usual” at the pub, which sits under a heritage overlay.
“It was a good commercial decision and it was the right time to make it,” he said.
Mr Tabet’s pub holdings include the Lynbrook Hotel in Melbourne’s southeast.
Lebanese-born Mr Tabet was overseas and could not be contacted for comment.
Source: Herald Sun, John Bagge, 8th January 2016
