Two former Adgemis pubs change hands in $80M deal
Two Sydney hotels formerly held within Jon Adgemis' collapsed Public Hospitality empire have been acquired by ASX-listed Clime Asset Management and Singapore-based Vantage Point Asset Management in a combined transaction worth approximately $80 million, ending months of uncertainty following a failed sale to Millinium Capital's Tom Wallace.
South Bondi Hotel, the Bondi Beach property long operated as Noah's Backpackers, sold for around $60 million, while the Empire Hotel in Annandale changed hands for approximately $20 million, plus costs.
The transaction brings fresh resolution to a protracted receivership process.
McGrathNicol was appointed receiver to five properties within the former Public Hospitality portfolio in October last year after Adgemis was declared bankrupt, having accumulated $1.8 billion in debts tied largely to personal guarantees on loans used to build his pub empire.
The five properties under receivership were South Bondi Hotel, Empire Hotel, The Exchange Hotel in Balmain, Claridge House in Darlinghurst and Hotel Diplomat in Potts Point.
An earlier agreement to sell Hotel Diplomat, South Bondi Hotel and Empire Hotel to Tom Wallace for $101.5 million fell through when Wallace failed to settle in January. Oscars Group, led by Bill and Mario Gravanis, subsequently stepped in to acquire Hotel Diplomat for around $20 million, leaving the remaining two properties without a buyer — until now.
Vantage Point had previously backed Wallace in the failed bid, but the firm's head of Australian operations, Paul Thomas told the The Australian Financial Review (AFR).
"Michael and I, Clime and Vantage, are the investors. Tom is not involved whatsoever. [We won't] be working with Tom going forward."
Thomas said the partners would take time to assess the future direction of the South Bondi Hotel, including whether to pursue a mixed-use development incorporating hotel rooms and apartments or concentrate on its accommodation offer.
"We have a regional hotel strategy," he said. "Both businesses are very aligned in … where we want to take these assets, and how it can play into a broader regional strategy as well. They're great assets, and they've been sitting empty for too long."
Clime, which manages $1.7 billion in assets, and Vantage Point, a $2.8 billion investment manager with Australian offices in Sydney and Melbourne, are already collaborating on several major projects including the $400 million Keystone tower in Adelaide and The Cliffs golf course on South Australia's Kangaroo Island.
Adgemis originally paid $68 million for the South Bondi Hotel in 2022, with plans to convert the 260-bed hostel into a boutique hotel. Approved plans for the site include 53 accommodation rooms and multiple bar areas.
Clime managing director Michael Baragwanath framed the dual acquisition as a strategically complementary pairing, telling the AFR: "Bondi is an exceptional location, complex heritage, beautiful stories, there's stories to tell with Noah's.
Empire is a good pair because it generates cash flow and real income now, while we work through exactly how to get the best outcome with Noah's. So I see them as a pair, really, not that we want to go replicate the mistakes of the past with some overarching empire."
On the broader investment climate, Baragwanath added: "We are in a sort of stagflation economy, and the types of assets [that] are going to do well in that space are differentiated, high quality, not super luxury but just reliable, good assets."
Jonathan Jackson, 11th June 2026
