Private equity giant snaps up Sydney venues amid roaring pubs trade
Australian Venue Co, the nation’s second-largest pub owner, has bought four pubs across Sydney in a single deal as the hospitality giant owned by US and Hong Kong private equity ramps up its expansion in the local market.
The transaction is estimated to be worth between $50 million and $60 million and comes after a bumper year of deals in the pub sector that resulted in more than $2 billion of venues changing hands in 2025.
It is an early signal that the pubs trade is set to roar again this year as major players bet on the growth of hospitality investment and its capacity to draw patrons, despite cost-of-living concerns.
The Sydney deal also reflects the increasing appeal to offshore investors of Australia’s buoyant pubs sector, which is largely dominated by powerful family-run groups and local fund managers.
“Australia’s pub sector is a resilient and attractive part of the hospitality landscape. Pub venues typically have strong community connection, and are consistently in high demand for high-quality food and beverage offerings,” said AVC’s chief executive Paul Waterson.
“The ongoing investment in AVC reflects confidence in our strategy and the platform we’ve built, and it supports our ambition to grow in a considered, sustainable way.”
Hong Kong’s PAG Group paid $1.4 billion to American investment firm KKR for a majority stake in AVC in 2023, and then US-based investment firm CVC Capital Partners also bought in last year. Today, PAG and CVC each own 45 per cent of AVC.
The Sydney deal involves the leases of four separate venues that were held by Solotel Group, a Sydney-based hospitality company run by the Solomon family: The Golden Sheaf in Double Bay, Barangaroo House in Barangaroo, Public House Petersham in Petersham, and The Erko in Erskineville.
While the group is also planning to place another venue in Sydney’s lower north shore on the market in February – The Bridgeview in Willoughby – its chief executive Elliot Solomon said its business focus remains in the hospitality sector.
“The sale to AVC represents an opportunity to refocus the business on exceptional and unique venues, rather than scale,” Solomon said.
“This decision allows us to simplify the business, reduce complexity, and focus our energy on our remaining venues, as well as new projects where we can be more hands-on.”
Solotel has also told its staff in an internal statement it will not be renewing its management contracts at four Sydney venues formerly operated by bankrupt public Jon Adgemis’ Public Hospitality Group.
Another recent pub opportunity that received significant interest from overseas investors was the Garden State Hotel in Melbourne’s CBD, before it was sold to ASX-listed fund manager Charter Hall for $35 million. Of the 175 enquiries the sale campaign received, a quarter came from offshore parties directly or from local bidders backed by offshore capital.
JLL’s head of pubs Ben McDonald, who helped broker the Melbourne deal with McVay Real Estate, said he was receiving increasing interest from investors in the Asia-Pacific region and the US.
“The resilience of the sector and comparative high barriers to entry from a licensing point of view continue to pique the interest of offshore investors,” he said.
HTL Property’s Andrew Jolliffe, who also brokers pubs, said recent geopolitical events had encouraged more offshore investors to look at Australia’s hotel industry.
The specialised real estate agency recently worked with Japanese giant Mitsubishi Estate Asia on the development of the hospitality and residential project, Rozelle Village in Sydney’s inner west, formerly home to the Balmain Leagues Club.
“Our client was deliberate, detailed and desirous of further material opportunities into which to deploy capital,” Jolliffe said.
“Built-form hospitality and tourism assets are keenly sought after globally, and notwithstanding an Australian dollar that has recently edged up against the US currency, the value proposition remains magnetic.”
