Historic pub to close after Rich Lister sells building, keeps pokies
Pubs and pokies billionaire Bruce Mathieson has sold the well-known Captain Cook Hotel opposite the Sydney Football Stadium in Paddington for less than half what he paid for it in December 2022.
Records show the 110-year-old, four-storey venue on the corner of Flinders Street and Moore Park Road – a popular stopping off point for a beer on the way to the footy or cricket – changed hands for $6.6 million earlier this month.
Mr Mathieson’s BLM Group exchanged contracts in October 2022 to purchase the pub for $13.5 million including paying $9.45 million for the freehold property.
However, land transfer documents show BLM transferred only $1.95 million at settlement for the freehold title – a discrepancy which Bruce Mathieson Group CEO Ross Blair-Holt suggested related to poker machine entitlements, but which triggered an investigation by Revenue NSW.
Part of BLM Group’s $13.5 million acquisition in late 2022 included 15 poker machine entitlements. However, these were not included in the sale this month and are understood to have transferred to another Mathieson-owned venue.
Shannon Whitney of BresicWhitney, who negotiated the sale of the Captain Cook alongside Tony Bargwanna of TBRE, said it had been bought as an “accommodation play” by a family already operating in the sector.
“The pub is closing,” Mr Whitney told The Australian Financial Review.
Bruce Mathieson Jnr – Mr Mathieson’s son – declined to comment on the decision to sell the Captain Cook after such a short period of ownership.
The Financial Review revealed in February last year that BLM had exchanged contracts to purchase the Captain Cook freehold for $9.45 million, the hotel business for $2.7 million and the budget accommodation offering known then as Bert’s Backpackers for $3.5 million.
However, NSW Land Registry documents show just $1.95 million was transferred by BLM Group to vendor FHT Nominees to settle the hotel freehold – or $7.5 million less than BLM Group agreed to pay.
The $1.95 million purchase price generated a stamp duty bill of $91,470 according to settlement documents, about $400,000 less that what would have been owed had BLM transferred $9.45 million for the property – triggering an investigation by the Revenue NSW’s Duties Investigation Unit.
Asked about the discrepancy between the agreed purchase price and the amount transferred Mr Blair-Holt responded last year: “I will just say if you did your work properly, you would know the value of gaming entitlements is not stamp dutiable, but that would spoil your headline I guess.”
A Revenue NSW spokesman said it could not comment on individuals or company tax and duties due to privacy reasons. The Financial Review is not suggesting any action was taken in relation to the 2022 transaction or that more stamp duty was owed.
Built in 1914 by John Burcham Clamp in the Federation Anglo-Dutch architectural style, the Captain Cook hotel features a large bust of the famous British explorer, who landed at Botany Bay in April 1770.
The Heritage building with over 1000 sq m of floor area includes three levels of accommodation above the pub, and a top floor apartment with a terrace.
Before being acquired by BLM Group, the Captain Cook changed hands for $10.5 million in July 2021 when it was acquired by FHT Nominees, an investment syndicate headed by Peter Scott, a director at Sydney chartered accounting firm Talbots.
A draft independent valuation report carried out in April 2021 by Hymans Valuers & Auctioneers valued the Captain Cook freehold property including gaming entitlements at $20 million.
