Daydream Island sold

DAYDREAM Island is about to enter a new era with reports of its sale confirmed this week.

CBRE Group’s Wayne Bunz, who managed the sale, confirmed yesterday that the island would be changing hands, but said he could not yet comment further on the buyer or final price.

National news outlets have reported the island has been sold to Shanghai-based real estate company the China Capital Investment Group (CCIG) for about $30 million.

It has also been reported that the CCIG plan to re-develop, potentially adding private villas or a boutique resort to the island’s southern end.

Daydream Island has been on the market since November 2012 when its owner Vaughan Bullivant said the time had come to look at its next phase of ownership.

“Daydream has always been extremely important to me and I’ve put many years of my life into making it the beautiful tropical island that it is today… but I’m 65 now and looking to, at some stage, put my feet up and enjoy doing some other things in life, including more travel and spending time with my family, which has long been my goal,” he said at that time.

It was later revealed that the entrepreneur, who made millions after selling his Nature’s Own vitamin company and has owned Daydream since 2000, was fighting a battle with cancer.

The sale of the island was re-launched in October last year, with Mr Bunz saying the campaign ‘A chance to buy a dream’ was expected to attract significant buyer interest.

“The owner is reluctantly parting with it due to ill health – he is now motivated to sell and is realistic on current pricing levels,” Mr Bunz said at the time.

While its reported new Chinese owners have yet to be officially confirmed, Mr Bunz did say last year that strong interest in Daydream Island from South East Asia and China was expected.

This would be the second Whitsunday island under Chinese ownership since Lindeman was sold, also through the CBRE Group, to Whitehorse Holdings in 2012.