The Stanford family have sold their third and final hotel, the Pub @ Rivo, to a new and growing consortium led by businessman Andrew Wheeler and publican Brendan Hood.
Around three months ago the Stanfords began the process to navigate an exit from the industry, and divest their three large-format hotels in Sydney’s north-west.
The last of the litter was the single level Pub @ Rivo, beside Riverstone train station, surrounded by major development projects including the proposed Riverstone town centre.
Set on 7,338sqm, it offers a Lounge Bar, traditional sports bar with TAB, Keno and big screen TVs, gaming room with 26 machines, bistro, expansive beer garden, bottleshop and 2am liquor licence, generating annual revenues across departments north of $4.2 million.
It presented upside by way of renovation, in particular the gaming room, with no CRT and only 16 machines in smoking solution.
The family has now completed the portfolio sale, generating circa $160 million, sale of the Rivo following the record sales of the Vineyard Hotel in early October, and Carousel Inn, sold to Solotel in November.
“As a family, which is what this business is, we are delighted to have exited the industry after almost 50 years in such a clinical and transparent manner,” offered Glen Stanford.
“These assets are more than simply businesses to us, and we are thrilled that they have been both sought after and acquired in the manner it was proposed to us by HTL they would.”
The Stanfords still hold title on several other commercial properties, such as a Woolworths-tenanted site in Gloucester and an IGA-tenanted site in Sydney’s Breakfast Point.
Andrew Wheeler is a 20-year veteran of PwC, teaming up with established publican Brendan Hood to snatch the catch for a reported $26.5 million.
Hood is son-in-law to hotel giants couple Archie De Angelis and Robyn De Angelis, who is sister to Arthur Laundy.
The Wheeler-Hood partnership has found its way into a second asset in the uber-hot market, joining their Lucky Australian Hotel in St Marys.
The Stanford’s three privately held pubs each offered desirable land and large trading footprints in western Sydney growth corridors, which optimised their performance in a marketplace buoyed by low interest rates and some measure of pandemic ‘bounce’.
An on-market campaign on the Pub was launched early November through HTL Property’s Dan Dragicevich, Andrew Jolliffe and Sam Handy, who managed the three sales, expecting sale price north of $20 million.
“The Riverstone sale is the last of the three Bittini Hotels to go to market, however was equally as sought after as was the Vineyard Hotel and Carousel Inn,” reports Dragicevich.
“Separately, what the robust interest in each of the three has exemplified is a market within which quality assets demand attention.”
Prolonged and pronounced market activity nationally sees consolidated sales closing in on a record $2bn for 2021, the Stanford portfolio contributing to new benchmarks for both sale prices and exit yields.
An EOI campaign on The Pub over four weeks found a significant number of offers to purchase and a response that was “overwhelmingly positive”.
“What I think is patently clear from the sale of the three Bittini hotels is the market’s appetite for well-structured public campaigns,” added Handy.
