Australia’s leading adventure tourism company, Skydive the Beach, is spreading its wings overseas, buying New Zealand’s leading tandem skydive company, NZONE.
NZONE is located in the adventure capital of the southern hemisphere, Queenstown.
NZONE has been Tandem Skydiving in Queenstown since 1990 and is the only tandem skydive operation to have won New Zealand’s Supreme Tourism Award.
It also has the largest skydiving plane capacity in New Zealand and has jumped more than 250,000 customers to date.
Spreading wings beyond Australia
The deal was recently announced to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). Skydive the Beach, which listed on the ASX earlier this year, (ASX: SKB) has just signed an agreement to acquire 100 per cent of the legendary Queenstown skydiving business from owners, Lindsay Williams and Stephen Smith.
It’s SKB’s first international acquisition and forms an important part in its goal to become the world’s leading adventure tourism and leisure operator.
Skydive the Beach operates 16 drop zones across Australia including: six in NSW, three in Victoria, three in WA and four in QLD. Last year, the business completed over 60,000 tandem skydives. From origins in 1999, it has become a profitable business with a track record of earnings growth.
In March 2015, Skydive the Beach successfully completed an initial public offer (IPO) and listing on the Australian Stock Exchange which was oversubscribed and raised a total of $25million. Since then, an additional 5 drop zones has been added with the acquisition of Australia Skydive Pty Ltd.
What does this mean for Skydive The Beach?
Executive Director and CEO of Skydive the Beach, Anthony Boucaut, said the NZ acquisition represented a significant milestone in the history of the company and was an important stepping stone for further international growth.
“NZONE is a quality business situated in arguably the adventure tourism capital of the world. Everyone comes to Queenstown to have a good time and many of them end up jumping out of a plane,” he said. “We’re delighted to be the new owners of this quality business.”
“We know New Zealanders and tourists alike love their adrenaline sports and this iconic NZ business is at the pinnacle of places to visit in Queenstown.
“We also have our eyes on some other quality sites around the world which would be great for our portfolio of assets in due course.
“Our goal is to become the biggest and the best adventure tourism and leisure company in the world,” Boucat said.
Executive Director and CFO, Anthony Ritter, said, “The acquisition is being funded by a fully underwritten accelerated non‐renounceable entitlement issue where existing shareholders are entitled to acquire two new ordinary shares for every 9 held at 7pm on 15 October 2015.”
The details of this offer were also announced to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) that day.
“The institutional offer opens today with the retail offer opening on 19 October 2015. We have worked extremely hard with the current vendors to make this deal happen and now look forward to 30 October 2015 when we formally takeover,” Ritter said.
