Singo, Dixon offload Kinselas pub for $22m

John Singleton and former Qantas chief Geoff Dixon have offloaded well-known Sydney nightspot Kinselas for about $22m.

Kinselas on Taylor Square, Sydney.

Adman John Singleton and former Qantas chief Geoff Dixon are continuing to cash in on Sydney’s pub boom, announcing they are offloading nightspot Kinselas, just off Sydney’s Oxford Street, for about $22 million.

The sale caps an extraordinary run for the pair who have sold six pubs from the Sunsuper-backed Australian Pub Fund in the past six months at record prices.

“We were pleased to have another good, successful sale as we decided to divest the pub assets and it’s been a very successful execution over the past nine months,” Mr Dixon told The Australian last night.

Kinselas was one of the first acquisitions for APF, which paid $10m in 2010, but sources said the NSW government’s lockout laws had affected the sale price and it probably would have fetched $30m if they had not been enacted.

Other pub funds, including the Lantern Hotel Group, which liquidated its portfolio, have also cashed in, with many buyers, wealthy pub families or institutions keen to get into the industry.

The sale of Kinselas follows the year’s richest hotel sale, the Coolibah Hotel in Sydney’s western suburbs which sold for $40m to a pub family earlier this month.

Andrew Jolliffe, Ray White’s Asia-Pacific director of hotels, sold the Kinselas Hotel, which leaves the Australian Pub Fund with just four remaining assets — two in Sydney (the Unity Hall in Balmain and the Vic on the Park in Marrickville) and two in Brisbane (the Stock Exchange and Elephant Arms).

“The sale of Kinselas is consistent with the fund’s previously announced strategic objectives to sell our pubs at cap rates that reflect their market value, as well as illustrating our desire to deal at market value with experienced buyers,” APF director Matthew Beach said.

The APF’s highest-profile disposal was Newtown’s Marlborough Hotel, which sold last year to a pub consortium headed up by multi-millionaire Bruce Solomon and celebrity chef Matt Moran, for about $35m.

Kinselas was sold in an off-market campaign to the Sydney-based Universal Hotel Group, the hospitality vehicle for the Kospetas family.

The company also counts Sydney CBD’s Civic Hotel, V Bar and recently opened high-end Martin Place restaurant, 1821, in its stable.

Mr Jolliffe said that over the past two years the market had supported the surge of pub transactions and he expected this to continue with more than $100m worth of deals agreed to.

Kinselas, since opening in 1910, had been an “entertainment magnet”.

Other high-profile purchases include Justin Hemmes’ Merivale Group buying the Tennyson Hotel in Sydney’s Mascot last year for $37.05m, and more hotels are to be auctioned shortly.