AVC Refinances As Blue-Chip Freehold Turn Gold

The booming Australian Venue Co is refinancing a new $600 million debt facility, as investors flock to hold the deeds on its pubs around the country. Most recently, the freehold of the Bentley Hotel and associated First Choice Liquor outlet in central Perth sold for just over $10 million, leased to the AVC-Coles partnership until 2049, including options.

The asset was reportedly purchased as a long-term investment by two Sydney-based Chinese-Australians, at a price representing a yield of circa four per cent. It was sold by Coles Property Developments at an auction through Burgess Rawson’s Melbourne office, on 30 March. This was around a week after the heritage-listed New Albury Hotel, aka Beer DeLuxe Albury, sold at a fiercely competitive auction for $13.2 million. Receiver FerrierSilvia appointed Manenti Quinlan & Associates and D.J. May Real Estate to manage divestment of the five-storey hotel, built in 1939 on more than 2,000sqm in the heart of the Albury CBD. Following strong interest from a range of potential buyers throughout the sales campaign and an opening offer of $8 million, six parties competed, seeing individual bids increase by close to $1m. The eventual winner is thought to be well-known local hotelier Peter Griffiths, at a price reflecting a 4.1 per cent yield. “We fielded enquiries from institutional and private investors and several experienced hoteliers, all attracted by the asset’s quality and the prospect of partnering with a blue-chip, long-term tenant in AVC,” said MQ’s Leonard Bongiovanni. “The result was well above expectations,” added auctioneer Doug May, of D.J. May Real Estate. “We blew past the reserve and kept going, showing there’s still an exceptionally strong market for regional hotel investments, particularly those with an A-grade tenant in place.”