Redcape bolsters pub portfolio with triple Brisbane swoop
MA Financial-backed pub owner and operator Redcape Hotel Group has spent $66 million buying three Brisbane pubs and says its $1 billion portfolio is trading well in the lead-up to Christmas.
The unlisted fund has snapped up the Lucky Tree Tavern in Durack in the outer south-western suburbs, The Willow Hotel in Moorooka in the southern suburbs and The Commercial Hotel in Redbank, a suburb of Ipswich, west of Brisbane.
The Commercial Hotel was sold by prominent Sydney hotelier Patrick Ryan (of Ryan’s Hotel Group) and Peter Filipovic, the former chief executive of Carlton United Breweries.
The Willow Hotel and Lucky Tree Tavern were sold by publicans Peter Braithwaite and Brendan Lawless.
HTL Property’s Daniel Dragicevich, Glenn Price, and Andrew Jolliffe brokered the sales.
In a statement confirming the acquisitions, Redcape said earnings were up 11 per cent year-to-date on a like-for-like basis compared with the year prior.
“Pubs have been trading really well, which has continued in the lead-up to Christmas,” said Chris Unger, managing director of the MA Redcape Hotel Fund.
“This isn’t a surprise to us; this sector has proven its resilience time and time again. Communities continue to embrace the affordable and social pub experience, and the strong trading environment demonstrates this and the strength of the asset class.”
He said the latest acquisitions were in line with Redcape’s strategy to “enhance our returns for investors by targeting high-potential venues in growth markets”.
Mr Unger said other venues were under “advanced due diligence”.
The triple swoop in Queensland follows Redcape selling two Sydney pubs in September, and after it sold over $130 million of assets to fund redemptions.
MA Financial froze redemptions in the fund in July last year until April this year.
