Just when it seemed the Public Hospitality disaster had dissipated, several of the sales to Millinium Capital are back in the air as settlement stalls.
Around 2019 former KPMG broker Jon Adgemis turned his attentions to pubs, borrowing heavily to amass a collection that came to count 22 venues, before succumbing to the weight of interest rates and becoming what was said to be the biggest bankruptcy in Australian history, owing in the region of $1.8 billion.
Multiple bank and non-bank lenders snatched back properties. Deustche Bank appointed McGrathNicol as receivers to five, and New York-based Muzinich & Co appointed FTI Consulting on another five of the collection.
Receivers have executed sale campaigns on most of the properties, with largely positive outcomes.
Tom Wallace’s Millinium Capital Managers (MCM) signed on the line for seven of the pubs.
Wallace – previously involved tangentially with former ASX-listed operators Lantern Group – is believed to be a long-time friend of Adgemis.
MCM began accumulating distressed Public Hospitality assets with acquisition of Balmain’s Town Hall mid-2025, quickly followed by Paddington’s Rose Shamrock Thistle, and shortly after paying $24 million for the incomplete Kurrajong Hotel in Erskineville.
This year the company went on to buy the Empire Hotel in Annandale, then both the Diplomat Hotel in Kings Cross and South Bondi Hotel (former Noah’s) in Bondi.
The Town hall, 3 Weeds and Kurrajong are believed to have all settled.
But after several months financiers have not manifested for the Empire, Diplomat and South Bondi, and the receivers are getting justifiably worried, thought to be considering temporary management and potentially looking at alternative buyers.
Amid rumours Wallace has only been interested in looking at Public pubs – despite a smorgasbord of arguably better assets becoming available over the past year – some close to the deals but unable to speak on record believe Adgemis may still be involved and somehow pulling strings in the background.
Meanwhile, as MCM appear to be following Public down its preferred path to pub ownership, the delays serve to hold up reimbursement to Deutsche Bank and other lenders to Adgemis that are attempting to recover bad debt out of the very public collapse of the Group.
