Panthers Group chief executive officer Warren Wilson confirmed the decision to sell the Boundary Street facility on Monday.

And the CEO allayed any doubts about the future of the Port Macquarie Panthers outlet on Bay Street saying ‘it was trading well and making a profit’.

While there is no timeframe for the sale of the sports club, Mr Wilson said a deal was ‘pretty close’ to being finalised.

Mr Wilson said the locally formed entity approached the Panthers Group about a possible buy out.

“There has already been discussions in relation to the potential buy out,” Mr Wilson said.

“They (the local entity) are currently working on their plan and finalising it as we speak. 

“There is no timeframe for the sale to go through, but it is pretty close to being finalised.

“The members of the club are looking at the purchase - any members of a consortium of aggregated clubs can, basically, put their hand up and ask if you are interested in selling.

“They approached us about a possible sale and we said yes,” Mr Wilson said.

The Panthers Group CEO said it was a good move for the local  sports club to be put back in the hands of its community.

“If it secures its future, then that is terrific,” he said.

“Once it is done it will be good news for the community.”

Once operating, the new entity will revert to a familiar name: the Hibbard Sports Club Ltd.

In its annual report of 2013, the Panthers Group described the Port Macquarie Panthers Sports Club as ‘a small and very friendly club with something for everyone’.

The club boasts three meticulously maintained top quality greens and is home to regular games by men’s and women’s lawn bowls associations.

The fate of the popular Port Macquarie sports club is in stark contrast to the Lavington Panthers club in Albury-Wodonga which was closed in dramatic circumstances on Sunday evening. 

That decision will see 40 staff members lose their jobs.

Mr Wilson told The Border Mail the parent company could no longer prop up Lavington.

“It will not re-open,” he said.

“I would be rather down here saying something else instead of telling people they have lost their jobs.”

The 40 jobs to go are a combination of full-time, part-time and casuals.

Mr Wilson said the club and land would be offered for sale after failed attempts to sell it as a going concern.

The club’s glory years were in the 1970s and 1980s before poker machines were introduced into Victoria.

The Panthers Group rescued the ailing Lavington Sports Club in 2001.

THE Hibbard Sports Club Ltd could be operating as a new entity by November.

This follows the decision by Panthers Group to sell the popular Boundary Street facility as a going concern.

Hibbard Sports Club Ltd board chairman Terry Merchant and committee member Billy Wheeler said the sale was unique on the licenced premises landscape.

“This has never happened before and this is why it has been a fairly long process,” the pair said.

“By the time we go through the de-amalgamation process we are hoping for the first of November to take over the operation but it is not definite.

“Panthers Group has been an enormous help to us through this process and this is a good story for the new entity. 

“Panthers have been financially helpful and also through their legal experience of the de-amalgamation process, they have been enormously supportive.”

Both committee members were positive the new entity will be a success.

“The club members have been absolutely positive about the purchase of the operation.

“We’ve had many meetings with members and we’ve had many good questions ... and zero negative comments.

“Once operating, there will be some improvements to our operations.”

The licenced club will be headed by a secretary manager and a local board of directors, with the latter elected as a steering committee by existing members.

The Australian Security Investment Commission has approved the steering committee and also the club’s constitution.

This committee will remain in place until some time after July 2015.

The sale is walk in walk out and includes 4.8 hectares of land plus the associated buildings, including the bowling greens.

Existing staff will be invited to apply for positions while a call for memberships of the new club will be made public within the next couple of weeks.

The new entity will operate entirely separate from the Panthers Group with no commercial relationship.

And in good news for local suppliers, the new entity will endeavour to buy locally wherever possible.

“This is good news for local businesses,” the committee members said.

There is no buy back clause in the sale contract in favour of the Panthers Group, the pair said.