The large format North Nowra Tavern has been sold by Mark Duggan and the O’Donnell family to Damian Kelly’s Pub Invest.
The ‘Tav’ is a landmark of the NSW coastal town, enjoying an exclusive catchment of 6,000 local residents, and diverse trade in the public bar and gaming room with 25 EGMs, under a 1:30am licence, and a big takeaway bottleshop.
Annual revenue is reported at around $7.5 million, and the freehold landholding is approximately 6,019sqm.
There is also a DA approval in place to significantly increase the hotel’s trading footprint and optimise its layout, and the site’s zoning would allow for significant redevelopment potential, permissible uses including a neighbourhood shopping centre, medical centre and motel accommodation.
This is in the context of the NSW and Federal Government investing a combined $2.4 billion duplicating and upgrading the Princes Highway between Nowra and the Victorian border.
Pub Invest, aka Peak Investments, is a private equity consortium headed by ex-Citigroup banker Damian Kelly.
The group has stealthily been acquiring pubs it considers suited to its model, the North Nowra taken for circa $13 million, joining the existing portfolio of the Crown Hotel in Surry Hills in early 2017, the Corrimal Hotel in 2016, and the Rose & Crown Hotel at Parramatta in 2014.
“This acquisition illustrates our investment vehicle’s fourth transaction in an asset class we feel satisfies a number of key real-return criteria, and enjoys downside mitigation factors not available to investors elsewhere,” advised Kelly.
“We’re granular and patient about our assessment of opportunities, but we’re deliberate when we highlight a target – and this won’t be our last.”
The transaction was through HTL Property’s Dan Dragicevich, Andrew Jolliffe and Sam Handy, who note its significance in a tough economic climate, and this as their 13th coastal freehold sale in the past year.
“Damian has quickly built himself a reputation as a credible industry participant, underlined by the obvious success of his current stable that no doubt his myriad of investors enjoy,” says Dragicevich.
“The North Nowra perfectly suits his profile and we look forward to seeing the way in which they take the asset forward.”
