David Warner-backed brewery expected to sell for ‘north of $20m’
Australian cricket star David Warner, his wife Candice and fellow investors, including race horse trainer Michael Freedman and jockey Tommy Berry, have put the St Andrews Beach Brewery on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula on the market for more than $20 million.
The Warners have about a 10 per cent stake in the popular hospitality venue and working brewery in Fingal Bay, about 15 kilometres from wealthy Mornington enclaves of Sorrento and Portsea.
The veteran opening batter, who has returned to sparkling form in a series under way in South Africa ahead of the Cricket World Cup, is a director of the brewery alongside chief executive and majority owner Andrew Purchase.
Warner’s investment in the brewery created some drama in 2022, when, after the Australian cricket team regained the Ashes, the players celebrated drinking St Andrews-brewed beer rather than beverages of 4 Pines Brewing Co, with whom Cricket Australia had just announced a new partnership.
The St Andrews brewery forms part of a 37.2ha site that was previously world-renowned horse training facility Markdel owned by the Freedman brothers (Anthony, Michael and Richard), where they trained legendary thoroughbreds such as three-time Melbourne Cup winner Makybe Diva.
The hospitality venue, which includes an onsite brewery, expansive beer garden, private dining areas converted from the original stables, commercial kitchen and public bar, opened in January 2018.
Former racetrack
Other infrastructure includes a 25-hectolitre brewing facility along with on-site manufacturing and storage facilities. The former racetrack is also home to a 6000-tree orchard that supplies fruit to make the brewery’s cider. Included in the sale are 100 megalitres of annual groundwater entitlements.
JLL Hotels & Hospitality’s Will Connolly, Peter Harper and Lachlan Persley are marketing the brewery via expressions of interest.
Mr Connolly said potential buyers might include high-net-worth individuals, private syndicates, national hospitality operators and beverage brands. Offers “north of $20 million” are expected,
A successful sale of the St Andrews Beach Brewery could see more than $85 million of hospitality venues on the Mornington Peninsula – a popular holiday and lifestyle destination about an hour from Melbourne – change hands this year.
At Rye Beach, pub, liquor and gaming giant Endeavour Group is hoping for approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to proceed with its circa $50 million purchase of one of the coastal region’s largest venues, the Rye Hotel, from long-time owner Peter Houghton,
Also on the market on the peninsula is the Dava Hotel, along the water between Mornington and Mount Martha.
Vendors Chris and Peter Dash hope to get about $15 million for the 88-year-old venue, which sits on a 1.55ha site overlooking the ocean and includes a bistro, public bar and gaming room and large drive-through bottle shop.
It is being sold with a five-year lease in place to operator Taverns of Victoria, chaired by casino pioneer John Haddad.
Selling agents Stonebridge Property Group and Wilson Property are marketing the pub as a land banking opportunity.
Stonebridge partner Rorey James said it was one of few beachside commercial precincts on the Mornington
“The Dava Hotel opportunity suits investors, land bankers, hospitality groups and developers,” he said.
