Making the most of a booming market, Singleton, Dixon and Carnegie’s Australian Pub Fund and Riversdale have officially listed the large-format Marlborough Hotel.
Maintaining their M.O. of business mixed with flare and media management, the high-flying names behind the Australian Pub Fund (APF) have set about finding the return on their pub investments with the usual panache.
Rumours emerged back in November of the pending listing of the portfolio’s stars, the Marlborough and Kinselas, but the greater surprise came with the out-of-the-blue sales of the Peakhurst Inn, Bristol Arms and Como Hotel in December for a combined $48 million.
Speaking of the move, former Qantas boss Geoff Dixon summed up his position by stating that everything is for sale “at the right price”.
Since purchasing ‘The Marly’, APF’s management arm Riversdale has overseen a complete make-over of the sprawling operation with multiple bars, transforming it from an old-fashioned oversized pub into an example of a modern, multi-faceted venue with something for everyone.
Located on one of the busiest corners of King Street, at the gateway to the Newtown precinct and significantly outside Sydney’s lockout zone, the hotel is almost 1,000 m² across three levels, with approved DA for a rooftop bar also. It holds 30 EGMs and boasts annual turnover in excess of $10m.
Newtown has been revolutionised in the past few years by high-profile operators overhauling virtually every pub on King St and Enmore Rd. This arguably began with Riversdale’s purchase of the Marly in 2012, and continues today – as seen in Merivale’s work at the Queens Hotel.
“Few A-grade hotel offerings we’ve been fortunate to be exclusively retained to sell have such business depth as does The Marlborough,” says Ray White Asia-Pacific director Andrew Jolliffe, who is marketing the pub for APF.
“Staple this asset inventory with the property’s proximity to the heavily populated Sydney University and active employee base at RPA; and the downstream access to nearby patronage looks incredibly solid.”
Having brokered the $22.5m for the Peakhurst Inn, and the record-breaking auction sale of the Tennyson Hotel in December to Justin Hemmes, Jolliffe says the availability of well-priced debt and strong revenues being seen in hotels will keep pushing the prices.
“We’ve espoused the view recently, and confidently, that the market indicators suggest a case for A-grade freehold hotel yields to contract below eight per cent in gateway east coast cities,” replied Jolliffe.
The Marlborough Hotel is being sold via an Expressions of Interest campaign, closing 1 March.
