Newtown's Marlborough Hotel sold

Newtown's iconic Marlborough Hotel has been sold to to a company managed by Bruce Solomon and Matt Moran's hospitality group Solotel, price undisclosed, but reported as around $33 million.

Andrew Jolliffe, director, Ray White Asia Pacific said the property sold following a six week international EOI campaign launched in March.

"The level of international interest was significant; and is reflective of material off-shore equity tranches looking for a home in high yielding Australian property investments with exposure to management functions, and business operation," he said.

The sale of the Marlborough Hotel by the Australian Pub Fund - headlined by John Singleton and Geoff Dixon - represents the fifth by the group.

Following the sale of the Marlborough, the Australian Pub Fund will have five pubs, three in Sydney; Kinselas in Darlinghurst, Unity Hall in Balmain and the Vic on the Park in Marrickville and two in Brisbane; the Stock Exchange and Elephant Arms. 

Matthew Beach, director of APF said consistent with our strategic objectives, we have divested a number of pubs where we feel the price the market has offered reflects the value of our assets.

"We will continue to apply this strategy where applicable," he said.

"Our strategy of buying the best pub assets within each local market area has attracted experienced buyers to pursue the acquisition of our assets.

Andrew Gibbs, APF chief executive officer said the Marlborough was a unique proposition given both its sheer scale, and proximity to both Sydney University and RPA Hospital

"The large footprint the hotel adorns, complete with multiple outdoor areas and 30 very valuable gaming machines, enabled us to significantly grow the earnings of the pub during our ownership period," he said.