Salter Brothers snap up Hunter Valley and Blue Mountains hotels

Fund manager Salter Brothers has bought the landmark Hydro Majestic Hotel as well as Lilianfels Resort in the NSW Blue Mountains tourist township.

Under the deal Salter Brothers has acquired 127 rooms within a two-hour drive of Sydney or Brisbane.

Acquisitive Melbourne-based global fund manager Salter Brothers has acquired the landmark Hydro Majestic Hotel as well as Lilianfels Resort in the NSW Blue Mountains tourist township as part of a five hotel portfolio acquisition in a major off market deal.

Salter Brother’s purchase of the Escarpment Group’s boutique hotel and estate portfolio encompasses 237 rooms across the tourism drawcards of the Blue Mountains and Hunter Valley wine region and is valued at well over $100m, according to sources on Tuesday.

The Hydro Majestic at night. Picture:David Hill / Deep Hill Media.

It adds to Salter Brothers’ recent acquisition of the portfolio of luxury Spicers Retreats from Flight Centre’s Jude Turner including the Spicers Vineyards Estate in the Hunter Valley, Spicers Tamarind Retreat and Spicers Peak Lodge in Queensland, as well as Spicers Guesthouse and Spicers Sangoma Retreat in the Blue Mountains.

Under Tuesday’s deal Salter Brothers has acquired 127 rooms within a two-hour drive of Sydney or Brisbane.

Specifically, Salter Brothers will acquire the Escarpment Group’s 89 room Lilianfels Resort and Spa, the 84 room The Hydro Majestic Hotel which it refurbished in 2008, the 14 room Echoes Boutique Hotel, the 31 room Parklands Country Gardens & Lodges, and the 19 room The Convent Hunter Valley, which the Escarpment Group purchased for more than $5m in 2016.

No purchase price was released but executive agents contacted by The Australian priced the portfolio at around $500,000 per room.

The portfolio includes signature “hatted” restaurants such as Darley’s Restaurant at Lilianfels and Circa 1876 at The Convent Hunter Valley which was once owned by the late News Corp executive Ken Cowley.

“Following the recent acquisitions of the Spicers Retreats and Lodges and the Milton Park Country Hotel and Spa, we are delighted to add to the Salter Brothers’ strategy of acquiring luxury assets in unrepeatable locations, Salter Brothers managing director Paul Salter said.

“These boutique hotels and estates will complement our growing portfolio for this strategy and the assets present significant opportunities as part of our broader platform,” he said in a statement.”

Lilianfels Hotel in the Blue Mountains.

Salter Brothers were advised by MinterEllison, Ernst & Young, Napier and Blakely and Ethos Urban.

The vendor was Escarpment Group’s founders husband and wife hoteliers Huong Nguyen and George Saad.

“We have been investing and operating in the Blue Mountains since 2004, so it was important for us to find a group that understands regional tourism and appreciates how unique the properties are,” Ms Nguyen and Mr Saad said in a joint statement.

“We look forward to seeing our legacy continue and to assisting Salter Brothers to achieve their goals at the properties.”

Salter Brothers has nearly $3bn of funds under management having formed a hotel platform in December 2015 via the acquisition of hotels in Australia and the United States. At present it has 4,778 rooms across 19 hotels, making it one of Australia’s largest hotel owners in Australia.

Following completion of this acquisition, the Spicers Retreats and Lodges and the Milton Park Country Hotel and Spa, the number of properties under management by Salter Brothers will jump to 36.