New Owners Found For The Panmure Historic Hotel

New owners have been found for the Panmure Historic Hotel, the second property recently offered for sale by the Mount Wellington Licensing Trust group.

LZ Holding Limited, has bought the property unconditionally – with settlement scheduled for 31 March 2025 – for a confidential sum on a going concern basis, meaning that it will continue to operate The Corner Bar.

Troy Elliott, President of Mount Wellington Licensing Trust says: “Our Trustees were unanimous in supporting the decision to sell because proceeds from the sale of Mount Wellington Licensing Trust group’s property and business assets will support a much greater level of community giving by Mount Wellington Licensing Trust into the future.

“We are extremely pleased to have secured an agreement with LZ Holding that will see them continue to operate The Corner Bar for the foreseeable future, including maintaining the gaming operations which will enable the net gaming machine proceeds to continue to be donated to our community,” says Mr Elliott.

At the September meeting of the Mount Wellington Licensing Trust, some members of the community attending requested that the Mount Wellington Licensing Trust group reconsider the decision to sell the Panmure Historic Hotel.

Mr Elliott says: “Following the September meeting, the property continued to be marketed while a review of the decision to sell was undertaken.

“Mount Wellington Trust Hotels Ltd re-examined the financial and commercial basis for its recommendation to sell and shared the outcome of the evaluation with Mount Wellington Licensing Trust for their consideration and final approval. The Mount Wellington Licensing Trust Trustees unanimously concluded that the compelling reasons for selling the property remain unchanged.”

Mount Wellington Trust Hotels has now found buyers for both of its properties – The Waipuna Hotel & Conference Centre, and The Panmure Historic Hotel - with both achieving competitive sale prices. By selling and investing the proceeds, Mount Wellington Licensing Trust will be able to fulfil its purpose of community giving. For many years Mount Wellington Licensing Trust has struggled to return profits from its hospitality and accommodation operations to the community, with more than 92 per cent of community donations coming from gaming machine proceeds.

LZ Holding intends to bring in an independent hospitality operator to continue management of The Corner Bar. That means that employment will unfortunately be impacted for our small team of ten employees, says Mr Elliott.

“We will be working closely with the team to support them during this transition period.

“In making this announcement, I want to remind the very small, but vocal minority in our community who have opposed divestment of our hotel and hospitality assets, that it is Trustees’ responsibility to make tough decisions such as these, on behalf of the entire Mount Wellington Licensing Trust catchment.

“Being elected by the community gives Trustees that mandate, in the same way as general elections and local government elections mandate governments and local councils to make the decisions they believe are in the best interests of all their constituents.

“Selling is the right decision for our community. It creates an enduring legacy of community giving based on a solid financial foundation.

“Settlement, and transfer of the properties to the respective new owners is scheduled for January and March and shortly thereafter the net sale proceeds will be invested in accordance with newly established investment criteria.

“The sale processes have secured a great outcome, and all Trustees now look forward to the time in the near future where Mount Wellington Licensing Trust can deliver on our core purpose of investing in the community for the benefit of the people of the Mount Wellington Licensing Trust area,” says Mr Elliott.

For further information visit www.mwltfuture.nz

© Scoop Media