ACCC scrutinises Hemmes' bid for Rozelle's Sackville Hotel
Hospitality billionaire Justin Hemmes is seeking to expand his pub empire with the acquisition of The Sackville Hotel in Rozelle, but the deal has drawn scrutiny from Australia's competition regulator over his existing ownership of a nearby venue.
The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) is reviewing the proposed purchase because Hemmes already controls The Three Weeds Hotel, located on Evans Street in Rozelle and home to his Totti's restaurant, just streets away from the Sackville site on Darling Street.
The regulator is calling for submissions on the deal, with a deadline of August 12, and wants to hear from interested parties on whether the two venues are close competitors with limited alternatives in the area.
Hemmes, who oversees roughly 90 pubs, restaurants and bars across NSW and Victoria under the Merivale banner, declined to comment on the prospective deal this week.
The Sackville Hotel is owned by the Fairfax family's Amalgamated Hotels, which put the property on the market in May alongside two other inner-city venues — The Clock in Surry Hills and The Bank in Newtown — through JLL Hotels & Hospitality. The three pubs have generated combined annual revenue of about $40m with 11 per cent year-on-year growth, and have been under the same freehold ownership for 25 years, managed throughout by Solotel.
The Fairfax family also sold the Regent Hotel in Sydney's eastern suburbs to Thomas Hotels for roughly $42m in May.
JLL Hotels agents Ben McDonald, Kate MacDonald and John Musca are handling the sale campaign. The Sackville Hotel operates on-premises dining and liquor services, gaming facilities and a drive-through bottle shop.
Hemmes bought The Three Weeds Hotel in 2019 for a reported $5 million, reopening the 130-year-old venue in 2021.
The potential Sackville deal comes as Merivale continues to expand its Sydney footprint, having secured the final property in June needed to progress its Kings Green hospitality precinct. However, the group's $19 million bid for a former Tattersalls Club building in the CBD remains stalled after RSL members blocked the sale, and Hemmes has stepped away from a separate project involving two major office towers planned above a new Metro station following legal action over the NSW government's site acquisition.
Jonathan Jackson, 6th August 2026
