Eight months: Penrith’s Peachtree Hotel sold again
The tussle between Sydney’s long-time family publicans and a new breed of fund managers for the city’s most lucrative properties has seen the Marlow Hotels Group edge out rival bidders to buy the Peachtree Hotel in Sydney’s western suburb of Penrith.
The property was sold by Chinese-backed listed property company Boyuan Holdings, which is now focusing on residential projects and a massive precinct near the proposed Badgerys Creek airport.
Both Moelis-backed Redcape and the KKR-funded Australian Venue Company are also buying pubs and even entire chains ahead of planned floats.
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The Peachtree Hotel sits on a 10,550sqm block at the busy Mulgoa Rd and Peachtree Rd industrial park, next to Bunnings and opposite the second-busiest McDonald’s store in Sydney.
It was a profitable exit for Boyuan Holdings, which picked up the pub in Penrith for $15.5 million from the Parras family in October.
Boyuan chief executive Caden Wan says the sale is part of a strategic review of the business.
“The board has resolved to capitalise on market conditions and proceed with the sale of the Peachtree from our current portfolio of assets,” Wan says.
“The divestment will allow (the company) to focus on our property assets and the fast-growing lifestyle living portfolio, to maximise returns for our shareholders.”
The sale was brokered by Andrew Jolliffe of Ray White following his recent sale of the Padstow Inn at auction for $26 million.
The Marlow Hotel Group also runs The Rose and Crown in Parramatta and the Boathouse Tavern in Queensland’s Coomera, with its national scale giving it an advantage.
“To do this effectively, hoteliers require scale, position and demand,” Mr Jolliffe said. And bigger operators are flexing the muscle to buy key venues.
Last week, flamboyant adman John Singleton sold the Icebergs Dining Room and Bar at Bondi Beach to the O’Brien Group for about $15 million in a deal brokered by Jolliffe.
Singleton rescued the site from the financial doldrums in the 1990s but it is now in the hands of the country’s largest private hospitality company, which also runs stadiums and pubs in Melbourne and Brisbane.
The restaurant and bar is now operated by chef Maurice Terzini on a long-term lease.
More off-market sales are pending in Sydney. “We are currently in the process of doing this on a number of other material hospitality properties,” Jolliffe says.
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
