Coolibah Hotel reaps $40m as pub binge continues
The pub market is continuing to run hot with veteran publican Peter Vlandis selling the Coolibah Hotel at Merrylands in Sydney’s west for about $40 million.
The freehold going concern was picked up by another publican family, in a sign that market values for major gaming pubs have been reset at a higher level.
The deal comes after last month’s sale of John Singleton’s Marlborough Hotel in Newtown to the pub group headed by Bruce Solomon and celebrity chef Matt Moran for more than $30 million.
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Vlandis has a long history in pubs and worked as a pastry chef in his family business before joining two friends to buy his first pub, the Oxford Tavern in Petersham, in 1972. The trio bought the Comb and Cutter at Blacktown and he also owns the Three Swallows Hotel at Bankstown and the Colonial Hotel at Werrington.
Andrew Jolliffe, Asia Pacific director of the Ray White Group, brokered the off-market transaction for the recently upgraded Coolibah Hotel.
The market has been well supported by sophisticated on and offshore investor groups, and we feel this trend will continue
Jolliffe argues the sale supports the run-up in values in the A-grade Sydney freehold hotel market seen in the disposal of the Lantern Hotel Group portfolio and assets from the Australian Pub Fund.
The purchaser is yet to be identified but is understood to be a significant and experienced hotel group with decades of ownership and operational experience.
“The market has been well supported by sophisticated on and offshore investor groups, and we feel this trend will continue,” Jolliffe says.
Notably, the investment arm of Moelis is back chasing the $700 million-plus Redcape hotel portfolio, which is being sold via Goldman Sachs for US-based hedge funds York Capital and Varde Partners.
Moelis is believed to be drawing the money from its Significant Investment Visa fund, and is operating independently from former partner and Sydney publican Nelson Meers.
Private equity firms CHAMP and KKR are also bidding for the $300 million Dixon Hospitality Group.
Jolliffe says it is reassuring that the long-time hoteliers are also buying premium pubs.
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
