National Leisure and Gaming (NLG) has sold the leasehold interests in two Queensland pubs

Magnums and The Blue Pacific - for a combined total of $12.5 million.

Magnums is in Shute Harbour Road, Airlie Beach, and comprises five bar areas and a nightclub. It is leased for 20 years with a series of five-year options.

The Blue Pacific is situated on Bribie Island, 70kms north of the Brisbane CBD. It comprises a bistro and gaming area leased for 25 years with a series of five-year options.

Both interests were acquired by the Australian Leisure & Hospitality Group (ALH), which operates more than 275 licensed venues and over 450 retail liquor outlets across Australia.

NLG chief executive officer Andrew Jolliffe said the sales represented a positive outcome in what continued to be an unpredictable marketplace.

"NLG continues to actively review its portfolio of assets with the view that wherever non-performing or non strategic assets can be divested at financially accretive levels, they will be," he said.

"The sale of these two assets highlights a meaningful - if protracted - return of investor confidence in the hotel sector. We expect these deals to set a benchmark in regard to the value of premium leasehold values given that they represent arguably the most reliable case of 'willing buyer, willing seller' in the leasehold market for some time."

CBRE Hotels director Joel Fisher, whose agency brokered the sales, said historically low interest rates and attractive investment yields were rekindling buyer interest in the pubs sector after a lacklustre 2008.

"As interest rate pressures ease and pub revenues continue to improve post the 2007 introduction of smoking bans across the country, money is starting to flow back into the pub sector, which has traditionally performed well in adverse economic climates," he said.

Magnums Hotel	The Blue Pacific Hotel