Vic bus bigwig Ventura lures offshore bidders despite contract risk
Victoria’s biggest bus operator Ventura Group is understood to be fielding interest from at least two overseas bidders, despite questions raised around its ability to retain juicy government contracts come 2028.
Andrew Cornwall, owner of Ventura Bus Company. Josh Robenstone
Street Talk understands Singapore-listed Keppel Infrastructure Holdings and Spanish bus operator Mobility ADO were among parties shortlisted after sell-side adviser Goldman Sachs collected non-binding indicative bids on August 25.
Mobility ADO, in particular, may be motivated given its perennial underbidder status in recent Australian and Kiwi bus auctions. It lost out to OPTrust’s Kinetic at both Queensland’s Transit Australia Group (TAG) in 2019 and Next Capital’s NZ Bus last year.
The other shortlisted suitor, Keppel, owns local chemicals business Ixom, which was put on the auction block last year but ended up doing a $1 billion refinancing after its sale stalled. Keppel was also in the final furlong at New Zealand’s Vector Metering, which ultimately sold a 50 per cent stake to QIC at at $NZ2.5 billion enterprise valuation.
The bidder interest – and sources suggested to this column that a financial sponsor was also in the mix – may have prompted a collective sigh of relief from Ventura and its advisers. That’s because a key talking point since Goldman was appointed has been the 99-year-old business’s ability to retain its earnings and/or margins five years from now.
A significant slice of Ventura’s contracts – which are with the Victorian Government and helped the business make about $300 million revenue and $80 million earnings annually – are up for renewal in 2028.
Hitherto a meek client, the Victorian Government recently changed rules for how
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