Aussie motorhome firm to merge with NZ operator of Maui, Britz

Brisbane-based recreation vehicle company Apollo Tourism & Leisure has announced a $950m merger with the New Zealand operator of the Maui and Britz brands.

Brisbane-based recreation vehicle company Apollo Tourism & Leisure has announced a $950m merger with the New Zealand operator of the Maui and Britz brands.

Apollo says the merger with Auckland-based Tourism Holdings will create one of the biggest RV businesses in the world with a fleet of 7000 motorhomes and caravans across Australia, New Zealand, the US and Canada.

Apollo managing director Luke Trouchet said the deal would help both businesses successfully transition out of the pandemic with cost savings and economies of scale.

“The two businesses have similar operations and like-minded cultures,” said Mr Trouchet. “The proposed merger will give us a better platform to meet the ongoing impacts of Covid-19 and better leverage the reopening of global travel.”

Once the deal is completed, the enterprise value of the merged entity will be $NZ788m ($749m) and it will have a market capitalisation of $NZ577m ($548m). The group will have total assets worth $NZ1bn ($950m). Apollo shares closed 26 per cent higher at 70 cents.

Mr Trouchet says Apollo’s Brisbane factory and office would remain largely unaffected by the merger. Grant Webster, the current chief executive of Tourism Holdings, will become chief executive of the merged company while Mr Trouchet will be executive director in charge of mergers and acquisition opportunities. The new company be listed on both the Australian and New Zealand stock exchanges.

Luke Trouchet CEO of Apollo

Mr Trouchet said it had been a rough road for the tourism industry during the past two years but he was quietly confident better times were ahead.

“There is a lot of pent-up demand for travel,” he said. “For example we are seeing record demand for caravans and motorhomes.”

Apollo, started by the Trouchet family with one camper van in 1985, runs a rental fleet of 3000 motor homes around Australia, New Zealand and the US, as well as having a manufacturing and retail arm. The company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in 2016 following a $50m initial public offering at $1 a share that tapped growing demand for road holidays among retirees and young families.

In 2017 the company acquired CanaDream Corp, one of Canada’s largest recreational rental and sales companies, for $28m, and Queensland-based Kratzmann Caravans and Clint’s Caravan Warehouse for $15.6m.

The Trouchet family, which currently hold about 50 per cent of Apollo, will own about 13 per cent of the merged firm.

Tourism Holdings was founded in the Otago region of New Zealand’s South Island in the 1980s and traces its beginnings to three separate companies that merged to form The Helicopter Line in the 1980s. In 1988, the company first entered the motorhome market, with the purchase of Maui Rental Campervans and the Mount Cook Group motorhome fleet. Britz Motorhomes, operating in New Zealand and Australia, was acquired in 1999.