Southwest Sydney hotel changes hands for about $30 million

The Allawah Hotel in Sydney's southwest has been sold for about $30 million in private equity style transaction through Ray White Hotels. 

It is believed, but unconfirmed, that White & Partnerse private investment vehicle of Australia's most famous real estate family, has secured the Allawah Hotel.

The hotel is ranked 140 in NSW’s latest Top 200 gaming rankings.

Its sale brings the total number of A-grade freehold hotels sold in Sydney in the past 18 months to 25, selling agent Andrew Jolliffe of Ray White saying he was confident of further market strength given the underlying fundamentals for the sector. 

The Allawah Hotel was sold in an off-market transaction.

It is situated on a 1,274 sqm corner site and close to the Allawah Train Station.

The vendors, parties associated with the Feros family JDA hotels, had owned the property since 2007. It is understood that JDA hotels have retained an ownership percentage and entered into a management agreement with the new purchasing entity. 

"This is uncontroversially a very strong A Grade gaming hotel sale, and consequently is indicative of a transaction which required a different approach than that typically deployed,” said Ray White’s Andrew Jolliffe, who brokered the deal.

The sale was a combination of a “hard asset changing hands, a significant equity refresh event and the implementation of a Management Agreement,” added Jolliffe, saying such deals will will enjoy currency in the future.

Speaking on behalf of JDA hotels, founder John Feros agreed that the private equity style deal structure was something his group had done in the past. 

"We had owned the Allawah Hotel for over a decade and decided the time was right to recalibrate the capital stack" advised Feros. 

"Suffice to say, we're very happy with the deal that has been concluded, and look forward to working with our new investor group to reposition the property so as to seek new value accretion opportunities.”  

Joliffe’s recent sales include the Coolibah Hotel 40 million, and the Tennyson Hotel which was sold to the Justin Hemmes-led Merivale group for $37.05 million.

Both are ranked in the top 60 in the state.

The Ray White Group said it recorded its biggest ever year with $44.7 billion in sales in 2016-17, up four per cent on the previous fiscal year.