Jamie’s Italian venues hit the market
The receivers and managers to food and beverage group Keystone Group have kicked off the longawaited sale of 17 wellknown Australian venues, including the Cargo Bar and the national Jamie’s Italian chain, as they try to recoup more than A$80 million (NZ$85 million) to repay debt.
The agents at CBRE Hotels, Daniel Dragicevich, Sam Handy, Tim Grossmann and Leif Olson, are steering the campaign for the leaseholds of a variety of pubs and food and beverage outlets across Australia.
Keystone went under last month when it failed to renegotiate an A$80m loan with financiers, the private equity group KKR and Olympus Capital.
The assets include Bungalow 8, Cargo Bar, Chophouse Perth, Chophouse Sydney, Gazebo, Kingsleys Brisbane, Kingsleys Woolloomooloo, Manly Wine, the Sugarmill Hotel, The Rook, the Winery and the Australian Jamie’s Italian franchise.
Morgan Kelly, from the receivers Ferrier Hodgson, said the sales process would be conducted as either a recapitalisation of the group, or a sale of one or more portfolios of assets.
He said the expression of interest process has fielded interest from more than 120 parties. This interest has ranged from parties looking at a grouplevel
‘‘We expect significant interest from all sectors of the hospitality market, both nationally and abroad.’’ Daniel Dragicevich CBRE national director, Australia
investment through to those interested in groups of properties and individual properties.
‘‘A group-level investment offers the synergies of an existing head office function including marketing, payroll and purchasing, and represents a rare opportunity to acquire immediate size and scale to a portfolio,’’ Kelly said.
National director at CBRE Daniel Dragicevich said the Keystone portfolio consisted of some of the most well-known and highly regarded venues and brands across Australia.
‘‘We expect significant interest from all sectors of the hospitality market, both nationally and abroad,’’ Dragicevich said.
‘‘Whilst the 17 venues will no