Copy link Copied Copy link Copied Subscribe to gift this article Gift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe. Already a subscriber? Login Busy hospitality fund manager Salter Brothers has bolstered its portfolio of boutique country lodges and luxury coastal retreats after snapping up three Bannisters hotels in Mollymook and Port Stephens on the NSW South and North Coast for over $100 million. The acquisitions include two famous seafood restaurants in Mollymook and Port Stephens operated by celebrity UK chef Rick Stein within the hotel complexes alongside a number of pubs, bars and spas.
It comes as Salter Brothers works on plans to potentially float a separate $2 billion portfolio of mostly IHG-operated CBD hotels including properties such as the five-star Intercontinental Rialto Melbourne, Crowne Plaza Coogee and voco Gold Coast. The acquisition includes the 78-room hotel, Bannisters Port Stephens on the NSW North Coast. The fund manager will add the three Bannisters hotels to its unlisted Hospitality Retreat Fund, which currently houses 13 properties and 407 guest rooms including six Spicers Retreats resorts (and the Spicers Retreats brand) , which were acquired in 2022 for about $130 million from Flight Centre co-founder Graham Turner and his wife Jude.
Other properties in the fund include Bowral’s Milton Park Country House & Spa in the NSW Southern Highlands (acquired for about $20 million last year) , Echoes Boutique Hotel Blue Mountain and The C.