Monarch Hotels has divested the Banksia Hotel in Sydney’s south, selling the venue to Patrick Ryan.
The large-format hotel was sold in an off-market transaction, conducted by Andrew Jolliffe of Ray White Hotels. While Jolliffe would not disclose the sale price, industry sources have placed the figure around the $26 million mark.
“We are proud and very successful managers of publicly marketed sale programs, however we also regularly enjoy the exclusive engagement of valued clients when a discreet divestment of a high value asset is required. Which is what we were tasked to do by Monarch Hotels in respect of this significant South Western Sydney property,” said Jolliffe.
Monarch Hotels – co-owned and directed by Joel Fisher, with the backing of the US-based Varde Partners and York Capital – purchased the Banksia Hotel from the Waugh Group in 2014. The hotel is ranked 170 in the New South Wales Government’s latest report on the Top 200 gaming venues in the state.
The hotel has also seen an uplift in its food offering under the management of Monarch Hotels, with the group bringing in well-known chef Colin Fassnidge, executive chef Leigh McDivitt and consultant Clayton Ries to oversee an upheaval of the bistro and its menu. The trio brought the same approach to another Monarch Hotels asset – the Macquarie Hotel in Liverpool – mid last year.
Monarch Hotels still has within its portfolio eight venues across New South Wales and Queensland, including the top ranked gaming pub in Queensland, Acacia Ridge Hotel; and impressive gaming performers Belmore and Lidcombe Hotels in greater Sydney. In total the eight venues hold over 200 gaming machines.
Jolliffe has stated that many approaches have been made for the remaining venues, describing the portfolio as “an unmistakably unique cluster of high quality assets in such a supply starved environment for the sector.”
Fisher declined to comment on the sale of Banksia Hotel or the current status of any of the remaining portfolio assets.