Redcape has boosted its exposure in the Sunshine Coast with the acquisition of Maeva Hospitality’s four pubs for circa $80 million.
Maeva Hospitality – formerly Sunshine Coast Hotels – is a venture by veteran Queensland hoteliers Scott Armstrong and Richard Deery. The Deery family famously own the storied Story Bridge Hotel in Brisbane.
Maeva’s portfolio has come to count Motel Caloundra, Rosa Italian and the Bli Bli Suites, and the four now divested to Redcape, being the Parklands Tavern, Bli Bli Hotel, Baringa Tavern and the Brightwater Hotel, which incorporates The Lakehouse functions facility.
The collection are some of the most recognised pubs on the Sunshine Coast, purchased in one line along with 128 electronic gaming machines and nine associated bottleshops.
“The Maeva portfolio will complement and fit nicely into our existing portfolio of high performing pubs and continues our diversification and income growth strategy,” says Redcape MD Chris Unger.
The family-orientated Parklands Tavern is configured as a garden oasis reflecting idyllic Australian hospitality.
Occupying 2,350sqm over three levels of a five-storey building within the new Bli Bli Village Centre, the Bli Bli Hotel won Best Hotel (Metropolitan) and Best Bistro at the 2024 QHA Awards.
The Baringa Tavern opened in 2019, taking 1,300sqm of the Baringa Town Centre, in the 2,400-ha Master Planned Stockland Aura development.
Regarded as one of the Sunshine Coast’s best pubs, the Brightwater offers multiple bars and the 250-pax The Lakehouse. It opened late 2013 and was awarded Best New Hotel & Best Bistro at the QHA Awards in 2014.
All four pubs were developed by Maeva from greenfield sites. All within shopping centre precincts they enjoy WALE in excess of 45 years and report annual combined turnover north of $63 million.
“I would like to warmly congratulate Chris Unger and his team at Redcape on the acquisition of our portfolio,” says Scott Armstrong, founder.
“We are grateful to have received multiple accolades over the years for each of our venues, and Richard and I hope to have left a legacy for the local communities with the venues we have collectively created, and which we feel confident Redcape will continue to grow into the future.”
Continued strong trading and successes in its acquisition strategies has led Redcape to again upgrade its distribution guidance to investors. The Moelis-backed group has now purchased ten SEQ pubs for a combined $220 million, most recently including the Commercial Hotel in Redbank Plains, Lucky Tree Tavern in Durack and Willow Hotel in Moorooka, and the Flagstone Tavern in Flagstone.
The portfolio play was brokered by HTL Property directors Glenn Price, Andrew Jolliffe and Daniel Dragicevich.
“In 2024 Redcape set out on a deliberate path to scale up their stronghold of pubs in south-east Queensland,” says Price, noting the pubs are not only strategically located in major residential growth precincts but enjoy almost exclusive catchments.
“The Maeva Hospitality Group pub portfolio, astutely developed and curated by industry stalwarts Scott and Richard, is at least on par with any collection of Hotel venues across the country,” Price adds.
Redcape has traditionally sought bricks and mortar security, but the big-ticket leases are representative of a trend in freehold-free growth by major players, such as seen in the Feros Group and O’Hara Hotels becoming tenants in Shellharbour and Blacktown, respectively.
“The Maeva Hospitality Hotel Group portfolio transaction headlines a resurgence of activity across the national pub leasehold market, as operators gravitate to the often-times higher returns available at more palatable entry prices, as opposed to a traditional freehold acquisition,” notes Dragicevich.
