WA businessman takes $30m liking to outback hotels
One of Western Australia’s wealthiest businessmen, Peter Prendiville, is believed to be buying eight outback hotels stretching from Queensland to WA from a Middle Eastern investor in a deal worth more than $30 million.
One of Western Australia’s most powerful tourism figures, Prendiville has been the owner and operator of more than 40 hotels, fuel stations and roadhouses, and according to senior sources is looking to acquire the hotels from the Middle East-based global investment heavyweight the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority in a deal negotiated by CBRE Hotels.
Managed by the French giant Accor, the ADIA budget hotels are located in outback towns such as Alice Springs, Kalgoorlie, Katherine, Karratha, Mt Isa and Kununurra.
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The hotels formed part of a package of properties picked up for about $800 million by ADIA in 2013 when it bought 31 properties from Tourism Asset Holdings in one of the largest hotel deals in Australia.
Apart from the outback hotels, the 31-hotel package included the Novotel and Ibis at Sydney’s Darling Harbur and at Sydney Olympic Park. ADIA has been selling the hotels off piecemeal ever since.
Peter Prendiville is on a hotel buying mission.
CBus Property picked up another ex-ADIA site, the Mercure Melbourne Treasury Gardens Hotel, last September. The four-star hotel has 164 rooms.
Prendiville established the Prendiville Group in 1983.
It also owns the Karratha International Hotel, the Grand Hotel Townsville and several properties in Fremantle including the Pier 21 Apartment Hotel, the Tradewinds Hotel and Hotel Rottnest on Rottnest Island. Further north, in Broome, it controls the Mangrove Hotel.
Prendiville could not be reached for comment while CBRE declined to comment.
Prendiville was chairman of the Board of Tourism Western Australia until he stepped down last year.
