Lantern to divest from Queensland’s Central Hotel, Bundaberg

ASX-listed Lantern Hotel Group is set to test Queensland’s regional market, with plans to sell the Central Hotel in Bundaberg as part of its divestment strategy.

The property would be sold via an expressions of interest campaign closing July 14. 

The hotel is on a 1,017 sqm landholding in Bundaberg CBD, and operated under a 3 am liquor licence. The hotel also includes 14 Gaming Machine Authorities.

The move to sell the Central Hotel in Bundaberg was in line with the firm’s strategy to divest non-core assets and focus on its NSW portfolio, said Lantern’s chief executive John Osborne. 

“The Central Hotel has been a passive investment for Lantern and is subsequently superfluous to our current business model,” Osborne said. 

The Central Hotel is being offered as a going concern, including both the business and property components. 

The listing follows a flurry of deal activity by Lantern, with the group recently placing the Cairns Courthouse Hotel on the market, apart from three successful hotel deals over the past nine months. 

CBRE Hotels’ Daniel Dragicevich, Glenn Price and Paul Fraser have been appointed to sell the property.