The sale of one of Sydney’s top gaming pubs for $40 million represents more smart money entering the market.
A collaboration between Nelson Meers and investment bank Moelis & Co saw the purchase last year of Rockdale’s Grand Hotel for over $24 million, and now the Oasis on Beamish, in Campsie.
Meers has a history in pub ownership, but the partnership’s significance is the involvement of Moelis, largely due to its similarity to the likes of Redcape – owned by US hedge funds Värde and York Capital – which spun off the highly successful HPI investment vehicle in late 2013, and is itself preparing for a public float sometime this year.
With 30 EGMs, located in western Sydney’s gaming golden mile, the Oasis is consistently near the top of the OLGR rankings, dipping only briefly to No.20 last year whilst undergoing extensive refurbishment.
The sale was transacted by CBRE and Knight Frank, and CBRE director Daniel Dragicevich told The Australian on Saturday that interest rates and the legislative environment “are underpinning buyer interest and translating to strong sales results”.
“It had a big renovation last year, but it’s consistently a top-15 pub,” Dragicevich said to PubTIC today.
Professional investment money such as Moelis & Co, Värde, York Capital, and not long ago Goldman Sachs, is not coming only from banks, with developers pushing prices up in most of Australia’s capital cities.
While Victoria’s new development laws are seeing apartments incorporated above landmark Melbourne buildings – often pubs – Sydney-based Dyldam is racing to erect on a dozen sites in the city’s west, and just paid a near-record $50 million for Paul Irvin Hotels’ Bull & Bush Hotel.
