The SJH Hotel Fund is currently in the midst of raising capital to be invested in The Kent Hotel in Newcastle.
Owned and operated by Hunt Hospitality since 2002, the hotel last underwent a major restoration in 2014. The SJH Hotel Fund is currently seeking to raise $25 million from investors, and according to the Australian Financial Review the fund is forecasting a 7.5 per cent annual income return over the medium to long term.
Stephen Hunt, managing director of Hunt Hospitality, has spent this week in Sydney and Melbourne speaking to potential investors, with two thirds of the funds raised so far. Investments are set to close at the end of the month.
A member of the Hunt Hospitality team told Australian Hotelier that so far investment has come from a good mix of industry players and wholesale investors such as SMSFs.
The Kent Hotel is situated on a corner site in the retail precinct of Hamilton, 300m from the train station. The hotel also has a 3am licence and 24 EGMs, a main bar, bistro and function space.
The hotel fund currently owns three other hotels operated by Hunt Hospitality: the Lakeside Village Tavern in Raymond Terrace; The Duke of Wellington in New Lambton; and the Seabreeze Hotel in Nelson Bay.
Fundraising masterclass
Having raised capital on several occasions with great success, Hunt will be travelling to Las Vegas early next year to speak at the 2020 Nightclub and Bar Show. He will hold forth in a session entitled ‘Securing Capital: How to raise $1m in less than 24 hours’. Hunt will describe how he personally accomplished the feat, and will discuss why its more important to create a community hub concept, rather than a bar.
Hunt has completed over $82 million worth of pub transactions in the last four years.