Kangaroo Is ferry operator SeaLink makes $125m Queensland acquisition
Kangaroo Island ferry service owner, SeaLink Travel Group, is set to become Australia’s largest tourism service fleet operator with the acquisition of Queensland business Transit Systems Marine.
SeaLink, which listed on the Australian share market in 2013, operates under the brands SeaLink and Captain Cook Cruises.
Its deputy chair is Lucy Turnbull, the wife of Australia’s newly installed prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull.
Transit Systems Marine operates passenger and vehicle ferry services in south-east Queensland and Gladstone.
It also has a contract with the Queensland state government to operate the Moggill Ferry on the Brisbane River.
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The acquisition of Transit Systems Marine’s 33 vessels will more than double the size of SeaLink’s fleet, lifting the number of vessels from 27 to 60.
With the expanded fleet, SeaLink will transport more than six million passengers each year.
SeaLink managing director Jeff Ellison said the acquisition would be transformational for the company and reinforce its position as the leading provider of ferry services in Australia.
“It provides us with a new growth engine as it will significantly enhance our ability to compete for large-scale marine transport business opportunities in Australia and overseas,” Ellison said on Friday.
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The acquisition includes a number of strategic properties.
The Transit Systems brand is not part of the purchase.
Shares in SeaLink surged – 33 cents or 11.19 per cent, to be at $3.08 at 1030 AEST – in the wake of the acquisition announcement.
Transit Systems Marine’s turnover in fiscal 2015 was $90 million.
SeaLink said the acquisition is expected to lift earnings materially in the first full financial year after completion.
The company will fund the purchase through a new bank facility and the issue of shares.
Forty million dollars has been raised through a private placement of 16 million shares to professional and sophisticated investors, at $2.50 each.
A further $8 million in shares will be issued to the vendors at the placement price.
In addition, SeaLink will seek to raise up to $16.9 million in an offer of shares to all eligible shareholders.
Bank funding for the acquisition will be about $57 million.
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