By Vanessa Cavasinni, editor Australian Hotelier
The Ryan family have sold the freehold of the Republic Hotel in Sydney’s CBD.
The three-level hotel was sold to an international property fund in an off-market transaction, negotiated by Andrew Jolliffe of Ray White Hotels Australia. As part of the deal, hotelier Patrick Ryan has entered into an agreement to lease back the operation of the hotel that his family has owned for the last 17 years. Jolliffe would not be drawn on the sales price, or identify the property fund.
The four-level hotel, which has frontages on three city streets including main CBD thoroughfare Pitt Street, underwent a multi-million dollar renovation in recent years, including the construction of the popular rooftop bar.
Jolliffee said the Republic Hotel buy highlights the international interest in Australia’s capital cities as infrastructure and development increases.
“Sydney is enjoying a demonstrable surge in infrastructure investment, and astute investors right throughout our Asia Pacific database have highlighted this point. As a direct consequence, we are actively representing numerous clients in respect of their very valuable freehold property assets, and expect that favourable market conditions will continue to underwrite strategic investment.”
He continued: “We have averaged an exit yield of approximately 8 per cent for our clients when considering our last 20 transactions this year, and accordingly restate our view that the considered argument for further yield compression remains likely.”
Other recent transactions that involve international funds include the sale of Hotel Palisade to First Master Capital, and global investment firm KKR purchasing a majority stake in Dixon Hospitality. The Redcape portfolio also recently sold to the Australian branch of global firm Moelis for $677 million.