Property News

ING partners with Panthers

09 October 2006

Panthers Entertainment Group (PEG) has selected ING Real Estate as preferred bidder for its real estate portfolio. The partners will seek to unlock value in the property portfolio through the development and management of Panthers land holdings to create a strong rental stream from the club businesses.

"This agreement was the next logical step in our amalgamation strategy, which began several years ago," Panthers Group CEO Glenn Matthews said yesterday after getting receiving Board approval to proceed.

"We always planned to use our assets to improve all 14 clubs, retire debt and introduce new revenue streams – all of which will be for the benefit our members," he said.

Panthers and ING will immediately enter into an exclusive dealing period to complete due diligence and finalise negotiations. The process is due to be completed by mid December.

ING Real Estate's CEO, Hugh Thomson, said the Panthers Group has an extensive real estate portfolio and was excited to begin working with Panthers to unlock opportunities for both groups.

"ING Real Estate's development team will work closely with PEG to maximise these opportunities for the benefit of all stakeholders, particularly Panthers' members and their surrounding communities," said Mr Thomson.

Panthers is the largest organisation of its kind in the southern hemisphere with a total membership of around 140,000 and over 2400 poker machine entitlements at 14 sites strategically located around New South Wales.

In all, the clubs occupy approximately 80,000 sqm of gross floor area. The largest is Penrith (20,000 sqm) and the smallest Port Macquarie Sports (500 sqm). There are 195 hectares of land – mostly freehold – plus two sites with perpetual leases (1.8 hectares).

Panthers will retain 50.1% ownership of properties where the clubs are located.