Laundy wants Woolloomooloo Bay Hotel leasehold
NSW’s biggest publican Arthur Laundy is in discussions with Woolworths-backed Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group to take back the leasehold of the Woolloomooloo Bay Hotel in inner-city Sydney and run it himself.
However, Mr Laundy cautioned that talks on the deal were still in their early days and would not comment further.
The Laundy family already owns the freehold of the Woolloomooloo Bay Hotel, which it acquired from the Medich family’s Halcyon Hotels for about $20 million in 2015.
It was part of a two-pub acquisition from the Medichs at the time. The other hotel that was acquired was another Sydney icon, the Woolwich Pier Hotel, exchanged for about $15 million.
The Laundy family owns the freeholds of 40 ALH-tenant pubs.
Financial Review Rich Lister Arthur Laundy’s hotel empire itself is worth about $412 million. It includes freehold and leasehold ownerships including the Quarryman’s Hotel and Watson’s Bay Hotel in Sydney.
Strong asset class
Freeholds like the Woolloomooloo Bay Hotel, leased to an operator such as ALH, are considered a strong asset class and pubs generally have attracted a slew of investors.
Merivale boss Justin Hemmes snapped up his third Sydney pub in less than a year after spending more than $22 million for the Vic on the Park in Marrickville in the city’s inner west in October.
The large gaming pub on the corner of Addison Road and Enmore Road was the seventh asset sold by John Singleton and Geoff Dixon’s Australian Pub Fund.
In August, Merivale acquired the Collaroy Hotel on the northern beaches for about $21 million after paying an auction record of $37.05 million to buy the Tennyson Hotel in Mascot in December last year.
Solotel, the hospitality business run by celebrity chef Matt Moran and Bruce Solomon, acquired the Clovelly Hotel in Sydney’s eastern suburbs late last year.
