A bit about Bourke St
Here at Bourke St, we’re looking for opportunities to unlock value through innovation and creative thinking . We particularly look at areas with rapidly changing demographics in inner city and city fringe areas. Property backed hospitality venues are our specialty, where renovation and brand re-positioning are needed to meet changing consumer demand.
We have over 25 years experience creating or indeed re-creating venues and we’re always on the lookout for new opportunities.
Iconic Venues
Founder of Bourke St. Paddy Coughlan is a serial entrepreneur , starting out with $5000, he and his childhood friend Rodney Kelly built the RIVERSDALE GROUP into the hospitality powerhouse that it is today.
“Around 2008, we predicted the bottom falling out of the pub market due to the triple threat of rising interest rates, declining gaming revenues , and new anti-smoking legislation, we also predicted banks and receivers would need companies to run assets for them once they became distressed,” said Mr Coughlan.
After starting a hospitality consultancy firm, the Riversdale Group, the pair held meetings with the major banks, all the major receivers and pitched their services to them, then, when their predictions came true, the phone started to ring.
“The response was positive” he said,”particularly because of the experience we had with our own pubs,We could demonstrate to them what we had done with our own money and our own investments.”
Separately, Coughlan and Kelly also acquired the freehold of the Grosvenor Hotel in Waterloo in Sydney’s inner east, which they later sold for around $5 million , more than doubling there initial investment
But the Riversdale story doesn’t stop there.
Around that time in late 2008 Coughlan had an idea for a distressed pub fund……’We were managing all these distressed assets on behalf of lenders and we could see this huge opportunity”
They pitched it to Mark carnegie at private equity firm Lazard.
“Mark Carnegie (co-founder of Lazard Carnegie Wylie, now known as Lazard) liked the idea . . . he went and got John Singleton to come and have a look at it , and along the way former Qantas c.e.o Geoff Dixon as well as Alan Johnson founder of iconic ad agency MOJO invested and the rest is history” said Mr Coughlan.
In may of 2010, the distressed pub fund idea became a reality, with the Riversdale group making its first acquisition , Kinselas Hotel in Darlinghurst in Sydney’s taylor square, the portfolio currently has 10 freehold hotels.
Investors
Original investor Lazard successfully exited in 2013 .
Current Shareholders :
PATRICK COUGHLAN
ROD KELLY
Media
BRW
Sydney Morning Herald
The Australian
We are now open for pitches and business ideas. Please email to paddy@wearebourkest.com
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