Vauxhill Inn sold in biggest Sydney pub deals of 2018
Float candidate hotel group Redcape has snapped up the Vauxhall Inn Hotel in Granville and the Australian Hotel and Brewery in Rouse Hill in Sydney’s two biggest pub deals this year worth about $90 million in total.
The buys come hot on the heels of Redcape’s acquisition of Townsville’s Rising Sun Hotel for more than $20 million, as it also expands its holdings in Queensland ahead of a planned listing.
The pub company is closing in on its targeted $1 billion worth of pub assets and is well positioned to grow in both Sydney and Queensland.
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The listed Moelis, which runs the fund that owns Redcape, is in line for hefty fees if the float comes off and it has already ridden the value in pub values after buying Redcape for $677 million last year.
The rival Australian Venue Company is also preparing to float its operations once it acquires the Coles pub empire in Queensland.
The Vauxhall Inn Hotel was sold for more than $40 million by Sydney-based Bondi Asset Management, which bought the pub in 2016.
BAM chief executive Stuart King confirmed the sale, saying the new owners will enjoy the benefits of nearby infrastructure, commercial and industrial development.
BAM bought the pub in 2016 for about $28 million and renovated it, helping to shift the hotel up the NSW gaming rankings to 47th by the end of December. “Redcape are clearly premium hotel operators, and consequently we wholly expect that the good momentum already created by our management team will only be further amplified under Redcape’s renowned operation,” King says.
The broker for the Vauxhall Inn Hotel deal, Ray White Group’s Andrew Jolliffe, says the sale capitalised on the pub’s position in a housing development growth corridor.
Redcape is also picking up the Australian Hotel and Brewery in Rouse Hill from the Momento Hospitality Group for about $50 million in a separate off-market play brokered by JLL’s John Musca. He says the hotel has “unique commercial brewing competencies that will deliver vertical integration opportunities” to Redcape.
The Moelis-run group is tapping private investors for $40 million as it readies to float this year while equity market conditions are healthy and the company seeks to fund its expansion ambitions.
Redcape chief executive Dan Brady notes the underlying and strategic property value of the Vauxhall Inn, that has 30 gaming machines.
Jolliffe points to the sales of gaming venues, including the Tennyson Hotel to Merivale’s Justin Hemmes, and the Coolibah Tavern in Sydney’s Merrylands, as a sign of the heat in the city’s pub market.
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
