Canberra syndicate downs $75m regional pub portfolio
A syndicate of wealthy Canberra investors has swooped on a $75 million portfolio of five pubs in the NSW Central West as capital pours into regional hubs benefiting from the local tourism boom and an exodus of people from cities post-COVID.
Investment Management Group (IMG) snapped up the Royal Hotel in Orange, the Dudley Hotel in Bathurst, the Castlereagh Hotel in Dubbo, the Federal Hotel in Wellington and the Federal Hotel in Mudgee.
All five sales set new records for their local markets. This included the circa $24 million sale of Orange’s Royal Hotel, which set a new national record for a country pub, beating last month’s $19 million sale of another Orange pub, the Robin Hood Hotel. That was bought by a new regional fund set up and managed by Sydney hotelier Jason Marlow and his wife Peta.
Company records show IMG is 80 per cent owned by former PwC Canberra office managing partner Andrew Turnbull’s Mobro Pty Ltd and 20 per cent by Matthew Clowry’s Tourville Management Group. Mr Clowry is a former professional basketball player who played one season in the National Basketball League for the Canberra Cannons. He was previously Asia Pacific regional head of human resources at Société Générale.
“The past few years have seen exciting and significant growth across the Central West NSW region and we are delighted to have made thisacquisition,” said Mr Clowry, who is CEO of IMG.
The vendor of all five pubs was MPK Hotels, led by hoteliers Nick McKechnie and Nelson Kelly. The pair had built up the portfolio over a decade.
The sale of the portfolio was brokered by Nic Butler of Pub Brokers & Advisory.
“This is obviously an important sale and adds plenty of weight to the theory that strong regional assets deserve to be held in the same esteem as the larger metro pubs,” Mr Butler said.
“For this deal, it’s all about buying quality hotels that will provide excellentreturns in a low interest rate environment.”
Mr Butler said demand for regional pubs was being driven by the increasing number of people visiting regional towns while international borders remained closed, as well as by people moving permanently to the Central West from the cities.
‘The change since COVID of people being able to work remotely from home and the space and quality of life offered by these towns is [driving this trend],” he said.
Off the back of the sale of the portfolio, Mr Butler said he had received 40 phone calls from publicans in regional towns thinking of selling, given the strong demand.
Mr Clowry said IMG’s intention was to extend and evolve the hospitality experience for the people of Orange, Bathurst, Wellington, Mudgee andDubbo.
Three of the pubs sold with development approvals to upgrade their gaming rooms.
Included in the portfolio was 110 poker machine entitlements.
MPK is left with two leasehold hotels, including the Western Star Hotel in Dubbo, which is also up for sale as a freehold going concern.
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