In the past year, hotels worth close to $4 billion sold, well above past peaks, with several long-term family-run operators cashing out. A large $1.7 billion takeover of ALE Property – a big pokie pub landlord — by property behemoth Charter Hall added to the frenzy of deal-making.
In late December, former Nine Entertainment boss David Gyngell and the widow of the late actor and writer John “Strop” Cornell, Delvene Cornell, sold the Hotel Brunswick near Byron Bay for $68 million to listed fund manager MA Financial. “The big attraction of hotels is the consistency of revenue. As it used to be in the old days, people still have a drink when they’re celebrating or have a drink when they commiserate.”Solomon runs the Solotel Group with his family and celebrity chef Matt Moran and says pubs are attractive when they are part of a community where locals and visitors relax and enjoy being social after months of lockdowns.
Justin Hemmes’s Merivale is setting its sights on building its Victorian portfolio where it splashed out a combined $80 million to purchase the coastal Lorne pub and Tomasetti House in Flinders Lane. On the corporate side, listed property fund manager Charter Hall has become the country’s biggest pub owner after investors in landlord ALE Property approved a $1.7 billion takeover.