Young hotel baron Rick Munday to sell off his pub empire

Victorian hotel baron Rick Munday has put his portfolio of eight Victorian hotels on the market to cash in on fresh interest in the pub sector.

Jones Land LaSalle will market the eight leasehold pubs, most of which have gaming machine revenue. The portfolio includes the Grand Hotel in Frankston, the Sugar Gum Hotel in Sydenham, the Golden Nugget in Melbourne’s CBD and the Court Jester Hotel in Prahran.

Munday, who was valued at $114 million on last September’s BRW Young Rich list, has been steadily selling down his hotel interests since 2007, when he sold seven venues in Queensland and South Australia to Independent Pub Group for $61 million.

He followed this up last year with the sale of the Lorne Hotel for $20 million (to former business associated John Upham) and the Torquay Hotel (to publican Simon Vickers-Willis).

Munday told the Australian Financial Review that the decision to put the rest of his portfolio on the market was prompted by an offer from a private equity syndicate.

“We had a substantial offer the other week and we then decided the only way to flush everything out was to go to market with a strong campaign,” he told the AFR.

“The private equity market has been dormant for the past 12 to 18 months and they’re now out there guns blazing.”

The portfolio is tipped to fetch more than $50 million.

Munday says he will retain ownership of two restaurants in his hometown of Geelong – Fisherman Pier and a Chinese restaurant called Man Bo.

Munday started out as an apprentice chef before teaming up with a group of business associates to start buying pubs.