Overview
Only two months after acquiring the Oxford Street icon The Colombian, Iris Capital have added another notch to their belt by buying the Darlinghurst pub's neighbour, the Gaslight Inn, late last year, in an off-market deal worth around $6 million.
The move comes after a spate of buying and selling in the Sydney pub market, prompting the Asia Pacific director of Ray White's hotel arm Andrew Joliffe to tell Commercial Real Estate that "the Sydney pub market is on fire at the moment". Other notable acquisitions in recent times include Justin Hemmes' purchase of the Tennyson Hotel in Mascot, and Bill Young's $28 million deal to take the reins at the Five Dock Hotel.
But Iris Capital isn't just buying up big — the group also sold off one of its more notable venues, The Clovelly Hotel, to Matt Moran's Solotel group in late December. This should free up a little cash for the growing real estate empire, potentially to administer a few surgical-grade facelifts to its new venues.
This game of pass the parcel between some Sydney's biggest names in hospitality management has really ramped up in recent months, and we don't expect it to end any time soon. And given the huge price tags attached to these venues — mostly beyond the realm of the average punter's comprehension — the sales look likely lead to a few huge makeovers for a slew of Sydney's favourite pubs.