Quadrant’s journey with iconic train nears end

The Ghan is an abbreviated version of The Afghan Express

Further evidence has emerged that Australian luxury passenger train service The Ghan is about to change hands, with Quadrant Private Equity appointing advisory firm Jefferies to handle a sales process for the buyout fund’s Journey Beyond tourism business next year.

The Ghan, an abbreviated version of its previous nickname, The Afghan Express, runs through Australia’s Red Centre between Adelaide and Darwin and stops at Alice Springs, in what is a 54-hour journey that has proved to be popular among tourists.

It comes at a time that tourism in Australia is set to boom on the back of the low Australian dollar and as the buyout fund seeks to place other companies on the block.

Journey Beyond was formed when Quadrant purchased Great Southern Rail and later the Cruise Whitsundays and Rottnest Express marine tourism businesses. It is thought to generate about $40m of annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation and could fetch a price of at least $400m.

In addition to The Ghan, Journey Beyond’s assets include the Indian Pacific rail between Sydney and Perth, Cruise Whitsundays marine operator, Darwin Harbour Cruises, West Australian safari camp Sal Salis, Eureka Skydeck Melbourne, Horizontal Falls Seaplane Adventures and the Rottnest Express cruise company, which operates daily and annually from Perth and Fremantle to Rottnest Island and the Swan River.

Jefferies, headed in Australia by Michael Stock, has won various mandates in the past two years since it opened a Sydney office , including the job advising Kohlberg Kravis Roberts on its acquisition of Arnott’s Biscuits and also the sell-down of some Fairfax Media assets that were acquired by Nine Entertainment as part of its company merger.

Some believe that Jefferies also remains well placed to win a roll selling Qscan Radiology for Quadrant, with the buyout fund said to be currently in the process of finding an adviser.

IBISWorld says the tourism industry’s revenue is projected to grow by 3.5 per cent annually, with growth largely fuelled by a growth in international tourism.