Redcape has further tweaked the portfolio, divesting two pubs in Townsville to the Queensland-based Falvey family as its rolls capital into upgrades and acquisitions where it sees its opportunity.
The MA Financial hospitality fund has parted with the Hermit Park Hotel and the former Rising Sun, now simply the Sun Hotel, located just two kilometres apart, both on prominent sites on major Townsville arterial roads.
They provide complementary amenities including food & beverage and gaming facilities, with two on-site drive-through bottleshops. The Hermit Park is an historic landmark of the community, built 1886.
Falvey Hotels is operated by Peter and Kim Falvey, who already hold a handful of pubs in south-east Queensland, such as the Falvey’s Cecil Hotel in Goodna and Falvey’s Hotel Yamanto.
Purchase of the Townsville pubs, for $37.5 million, represents their first investment outside of SEQ. and an entry into the northern Queensland market.
For Redcape it means an exit and the end of a long-term and successful relationship with the north Queensland city that adds to its extensive period of activity. The fund holds a book of around 40 pubs, in multiple states, and in recent years has focused on accumulating in south-east Queensland, as well as Sydney and regions around Newcastle.
Mid-2025 the group announced a $50 million capital raise, along with purchase of the Orion Hotel in Springfield. A few months later it went again in Queensland, taking the Plough Inn from Kickon for around $40 million.
In May this year Redcape picked up the Entrance Social Club Hotel from Thomas Hotels for $36 million. In June it bought both the Frisco Hotel in Woolloomooloo and the Arthouse Hotel in the CBD from Ben McBeath.
In July it made a big splash in the Hunter, taking a package of five pubs and an accommodation hotel from Sam Arnaout’s Iris Capital while selling in return two gaming venues in Revesby.
Also on the sale side, in April Redcape offloaded the South Terrace Hotel in Bankstown to the Gravanis brothers’ Oscars Hotels, for $54 million.
“We have enjoyed our long and successful history with these pubs, going back 20 years, however it is time to pass them on and use the capital elsewhere,” said Redcape MD Chris Unger of the Townsville assets.
“They will be in great hands with the Falvey family and we wish them well.”
Redcape recently delivered strong results for FY26 citing 14 per cent YOY growth in pre-tax earnings.
Unger notes that venues offering value and well-priced meals were performing well despite the cost-of-living pressures and says the group has seen benefit from people trading down “from a more expensive restaurant experience into a more affordable pub experience”.
He says they have achieved “really strong returns” in refurbishments and have plans already approved for the group’s former head office, the Willoughby Hotel, and at the Commercial Hotel in Redbank, with more awaiting assessment.
While generally “pretty happy” the MD also believes they would be doing even better without the macro-economic circumstances that underly the pressure on consumer spending.
The transactions were managed through JLL Hotels’ Tom Gleeson, who sees a confluence of forces bolstering the business.
“Quality Queensland pubs continue to see demand outweigh supply with the asset class benefiting from strong trading fundamentals and continued portfolio growth by multi-generational and corporatised groups underpinning values.”
