WOOLWORTHS has been given the green light to add Caringbah Hotel to its portfolio, with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission deciding the acquisition will not lessen competition in the area.
The supermarket giant's subsidiary Australian Leisure and Hospitality group and the Laundy Hotel group purchased the hotel for $45 million in late February.
ACCC chairman Rod Sims said the group would most likely be constrained by a number of remaining competitors in the market.
The ACCC considered Dan Murphy's at Hurstville to be the next closest "large format" liquor store owned by Woolworths.
Ray White Hotels director Andrew Jolliffe brokered the deal and has negotiated the sale of more than 50 hotels in the past 12 months, including the Gymea Hotel and the Penshurst Inn.
He said it was the largest hotel sale nationally for several years.
"It highlights the fact that the much-maligned pub industry is arguably in full recovery," Mr Jolliffe said.
"Ray White Hotels negotiated the off-market transaction over a period of time and in doing so, matched willing buyer with willing seller to achieve this discreet, albeit landmark, transaction."
He said national pub sales in the past 12 months were in excess of $1 billion.
The sale brings Woolworths and Laundy Hotel group's joint venture to 32 hotels in NSW.
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