Sydney-based EBC Hotel & Leisure Fund have sold their Tasmanian hotel group in a circa $30 million deal to Melbourne-based boutique investment house Pentagon Group.
The sale marks the first portfolio hotel sale in Tasmania since the part sell-down of the Goodstone Group in 2011 for $27million. Both transactions were managed by JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group.
The offering included three freehold going-concern hotels – the Old Tudor Hotel in Launceston, The Bayside Inn in St Helens and the Foreshore Tavern on the outskirts of Hobart. Together they comprised 4.58 hectares of land, 132 accommodation rooms, 90 gaming machines and revenues of around $17 million.
JLL’s National Director, John Musca said, “The scalability of these assets drove significant interest from mainland hotel groups who valued the stable earnings platform in a key Australian growth market.”
Peter Harper, Executive Vice President of JLL said, “The interest in, and sale of, this portfolio again highlights the increasing recognition of Tasmania’s underlying tourism product and the growth anticipated over the long term due to these excellent fundamentals together with several significant infrastructure projects.”
The asset was the last in the special-purpose EBC Fund, which last year sold its Ophir Tavern in Orange for $6.2million.
Mr Musca added, “The Tasmanian Liberal government has proposed new gaming legislation, which is expected in the next 12 months and believed to likely mirror the highly lucrative Victorian model. This would see the system moving from a three party operator structure to a two party owner-preferred operator system. Anticipated to take positive effect in 2023, the changes are expected to deliver an earnings windfall for hotel operators.”