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Almost three years after selling their Apollo Tourism & Leisure business to Tourism Holdings (ASX: THL), the Trouchet family are looking to get back in the driver’s seat with plans for a $471 million takeover of the New Zealand-based recreational vehicle giant.
The takeover bid comes at a challenging time for Tourism Holdings which suffered an earnings downturn in the first half and is expecting another weak performance in the current half due to a slump in its US operations.
A consortium comprising BGH Capital and the family interests of Luke and Karl Trouchet – sons of Gus and Carolyn Trouchet who founded Apollo in 1985 – have put forward a non-binding indicative proposal to acquire Tourism Holdings for NZ$2.30 ($2.13) per share which is a significant premium to the company’s closing price of $1.365 last Friday.
Shares in Tourism Holdings surged to a high of $2.07 on the ASX this morning – up more than 50 per cent on the news.
BGH Capital, a Melbourne-based private equity firm, already controls 19.9 per cent of Tourism Holdings, one of the world’s largest recreational vehicle holiday operators that owns brands such as Maui and Britz. The Trouchet family controls 11.8 per cent of the company’s stock.
The suitors have indicated that if they cannot secure full control of Tourism Holdings, they will settle for a controlling stake.
Luke Trouchet, the Brisbane-based executive director of Tourism Holdings, has taken leave from his role while the company reviews the offer on the table.
The THL board says Trouchet will not participate in the company’s assessment of the merits of the offer.
The takeover proposal comes in the wake of challenging market conditions for Tourism Holdings which in April revealed its underlying NPAT for FY25 will be significantly below the consensus of analysts at the time of $45.2 million.
The company reported a sharp drop in inbound travel to the US, one of the company’s key global markets, had hit the group’s bookings for the year.
The weak second half has built on a slowdown in the first half which led to a 33 per cent fall in underlying NPAT to $26.5 million with that result impacted by a downturn in RV sales.
THL chair Cathy Quinn at the time described this as “the most difficult period for the RV sales industry in decades”.
In announcing the takeover proposal today, THL notes that it has been working on shoring up the company’s fortunes.
“THL’s board and management are very aware of THL’s recent performance, which has been largely influenced by factors beyond the company’s control, such as the impact of poor consumer confidence on the demand for recreational vehicles, and recent geopolitical and tariff developments impacting travel sentiment,” says the company.
“Over the last few months, THL has been working on a range of initiatives to address these performance challenges and enhance long-term value for shareholders.
“THL expects to update the market on these initiatives and their outcomes at the appropriate time.”
In the immediate aftermath of the merger with Apollo, Tourism Holdings posted a record underlying NPAT of $47.8 million and touted the business as “a larger and stronger entity”.
Prior to its merger with Tourism Holdings, the Brisbane-based Apollo’s operations comprised the manufacture, rent and sale of RVs including motorhomes, campervans and caravans with operations in Australia, New Zealand, North America, Germany, the UK and Ireland.
A successful takeover would see the Trouchet family back in charge of a much larger RV leisure travel business than the one they sold to Tourism Holdings.
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