Growing hotelier Jim Knox has pulled a trifecta in New England, consolidating his portfolio in the Moree region with purchase of three of the town’s hotels.
Knox Hotels now counts the titles of the Post Office Hotel, the Victoria Hotel, and the closed Moree Hotel, holding 30 EGM entitlements between them.
Sally Mishell and Gina Benson had owned ‘The Vic’ for over 10 years, and acquired the Post Office late last year. The pair report retirement as their primary motivator for selling.
The swift portfolio sale, which sources suggest came in at $12 million, highlights the high demand for the right income-producing regional pubs.
It continues Knox’s run of strategic acquisitions, closely following his settlement of Moree’s Royal Hotel. The Moree pubs join the stable alongside Armidale’s Whitebull Hotel and the Grafton Hotel.
“From a yield perspective, Moree is very attractive to us,” suggested Knox.
“There are no doubt geographical challenges with Moree, and that perhaps makes it a little less competitive with the larger hotel groups on the buy side.”
The only remaining Moree pub not under the Knox banner is the Amaroo Tavern, run by Waratah Hotel Group.
A deal on the trio was brokered by Xavier Plunkett, of HTL Property, which has been the agent on all Knox’s hotels, and a total of 14 pubs worth circa $70 million in the New England region in the past 18 months.
Plunkett hails from the area and still claims strong family ties, and cites the group’s motivation of operational synergies.
“Economically, Moree has benefited from the breaking of an historically long drought, the trickle-down effect of a 10-year high cotton price, and the enormous infrastructure spend and blue collar employment opportunities resulting from the Federal Government’s $15bn inland rail project.”
