Byron Bay’s Beach Hotel changes hands again
MA Financial has quietly sold Byron Bay’s Beach Hotel to a minority shareholder of the entity which has owned it since 2019.
Scott Didier is paying a speculated $140 million for the freehold going concern.
The Melbourne businessman will take over operations too – appointing family-owned Coleman Management Group.
MA, with operator Redcape, paid $104m via Moelis Australia Hotel Management (MAHM).
Mr Didier, who leads ASX-listed Johns Lyng Group, was a small unitholder in that trust.
The deal comes four years since the executive with MoneyMe founder Scott Emery, with who he has several business interests, paid the Mooney family $80m for the nearby Great Northern and Lanteen motel.
The pair also own the region’s Beach Suites complex as well as local commercial and residential investments.
At $140m – the Beach Hotel is Australia’s second priciest pub sale, following Nelson Meers buying the Crossroads, in Sydney’s west Casula, in 2022 for $160m.
New owner and operator
Developed in the 1990s by director and writer John Cornell – at what was considered a then exorbitant fitout cost circling $10m – the Beach Hotel contains, as well as bar and dining , 25 accommodation suites and a pool.
In 2007, Mr Cornell sold the freehold to Maxx Twigg for $60m in 2007, while offering the leasehold to Melbourne’s Van Haandel family, for an initial 30 years.
Ten years later, the Liberman family’s Impact Investment Group bought the freehold for $70m.
That partnership (the Liberman and Van Haandels) also removed 15 electronic gambling machines.
MAHM bought the freehold going concern from them.
Settlement with Didier is scheduled July. JLL’s John Musca was the agent.
“The Beach Hotel is a special place and the team has thoroughly enjoyed being a part of its history” Redcape Hospitality managing director, Chris Unger, said.
“The sale not only delivers a strong result but also marks an exciting new chapter for the Beach Hotel and we are sure it will continue to thrive as a beloved part of the Byron Bay landscape under the guidance of the Didier family,” he added.
Also this week, we are reporting Glenn Piper is buying the Bermagui Beach Hotel.
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