$600 million deal expands parent company of American Queen Steamboat Company and Victory Cruise Lines into Australia.
Quadrant Private Equity, the owner of Journey Beyond, has just confirmed the sale of the business including the Ghan, Indian Pacific, Cruise Whitsundays, Melbourne Skydeck, Outback Spirit and more to San Francisco-based Hornblower Group.
Hornblower operates a range of cruise, sightseeing and ferry products in the USA, including American Queen Steamboat Company and Victory Cruise Lines as well as ferries to Niagara Falls in Ontario, Canada; San Francisco’s Alcatraz Island and the Statue of Liberty in New York. The company’s footprint spans 125 US cities and it serves more than 18 million guests annually across its water- and land-based experiences, transportation services and cruises.
The Journey Beyond portfolio encompasses 13 brands in total, also including its Sydney Harbour cruise product, the Rottnest Express ferry service in WA, Horizontal Falls Seaplane Adventures, Darwin Harbour Cruises and Sal Salis Ningaloo Reef.
“Journey Beyond has the unique opportunity to leverage Hornblower’s unmatched technology and marketing expertise to further develop and deliver incredible tourism experiences in iconic locations in Australia as well as around the world,” the company said in a statement, confirming its head office will remain in Adelaide.
The deal is expected to be settled by the end of next month.
More details in tomorrow’s issue of Travel Daily.