Singleton back in buying mode with Gosford’s Elanora Hotel purchase
High-profile businessman and media owner John Singleton is back buying pubs after spending several years selling down his hotel and hospitality interests.
The former advertising guru has just splashed close to $25 million buying the Elanora Hotel, one of the major pubs in the NSW Central Coast city of Gosford.
The move signals his return to purchasing after a long period of selling pubs he held with former Qantas boss Geoff Dixon and venture capitalist Mark Carnegie, with the backing of Sunsuper.
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The tycoon told the Gosford Express Advocate that his latest purchase was a “bloody good pub” where he drank when he was in the area.
“We have had our eye on it for a while and thought we’d buy it if it ever came up,” he told the local paper.
Singleton, who was last year pipped at the post by pub family patriarch Arthur Laundy in their battle to buy The Bells Hotel in Woolloomooloo, has also been selling other pub assets.
Singleton and Laundy are part of the group, that also includes Packer confidant Robert Whyte and Mr Carnegie, that is selling Manly’s Steyne Hotel.
John Singleton shares a beer with Damien Cusick after buying his family’s Elanora Hotel in Gosford for almost $25 million. Picture: AAP
Bidding in the final rounds is well north of $60 million but the Gosford purchase displays Singleton’s belief in the area, where he is also undertaking apartment projects and backing sports teams.
The Elanora Hotel in East Gosford, had been owned by the Cusick family for more than 50 years and Singleton bought the pub through his property development company, Bonython.
The deal was brokered by HTL Property, which declined to comment on the sale details but says the pub had been chased by both the hoteliers and developers.
“The strong result is vote of confidence in the region and deserved of such a unique hospitality land holding,” HTL Property national director Dan Dragicevich says.
Damien Cusick, publican and long-time licensee, said his family was proud the pub had sold to “Singo”, who invested “so much into the Central Coast area”.
Some long-time pub families have been exiting as the prices in the sector run hot, with the Bayfield family selling The Newport Arms and the Ryan family offloading Townsville’s Rising Sun Hotel.
HTL Property Asia Pacific director Andrew Jolliffe says that the group had managed the sale of a number of significant generational hotel assets and the firm has identified NSW’s Central and North Coast as being “particularly active”.
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
