Grenda selling

[Craig]

The change of ownership should be positive for passengers, with endless possibilities for route changes in the eastern & south eastern suburbs with the merging of the contact territroies between the two, as well as potential to reallocate routes to other depots.

For instance Invicta's 693 between Belgrave & Oakleigh could be operated out of Oakleigh depot one day, or various Invicta routes around Rowville operated by Knoxfield depot instead of Lilydale, maybe with 754 extended east further into Rowville. Some wishful thinking from the bus reviews, such as extending to 695 to Knox City should now be easier to implement, if the DoT is still interested.

I wonder how Dysons & Tullamarine feel about the sale, given their current partnership with Grenda's running the 901 & 902 orbtials.

Kind Regards


Craig

[jarf]

This news, once the acquisition is completed would have to put Ventura in the top 5 largest bus operators in Australia for fleet size, as well as staff numbers & passenger carried?

With respect to fleet size I estimate they'd be second, with (currently) 1309 buses.

[Leyland B21]

Simply wow. Leaves only a couple of companys to be swallowed up in the South East. The little Black and White Company in Cranbourne and there is Driver. Certain Driver are here for the long haul!!!

Question is will they retain the Grenda Livery or will the Blue prevail!!!

[stajourneyman]

There are a few questions that float to the surface.

What is the future (ownership) of Volgren?

Will Ventura eventually run the entire operation under the Ventura brand, or keep things separate in the longer term?

Will they (as stated) strive to gobble up the remaining 'loose ends' as in Cranbourne, and Driver's metro and peninsula operations? Other than these and the Dineen Group companies, ie McKenzies and Martyr's, there are no other route operators left on that side of town. It's amazing how, in a few years, it's narrowed down to this. At least are all owned by Australian, nay, Melbourne long term family operators.

Will they finish up creating some super sized depots, given how many existing ones they will now have in the region.

What effect will this tendering for routes nonsense have on relevant parts of their services?

What sort of money was paid for it? I would take a stab and say around $250-300 mill.

What is the future for the Grenda family? Are they permanently finished with buses?

[ashwin108]

Eventually all of south-east Melbourne will be full of blue buses!

[CB80]

What is the future (ownership) of Volgren?

I've been told Hornibrook and Baulderstone have bought Volgren as of a few months ago, but have been unable to verify for myself.

Will Ventura eventually run the entire operation under the Ventura brand, or keep things separate in the longer term?

I would imagine they would seek to bring it under the Ventura brand, but I can't see this happening for quite some time yet.

Will they (as stated) strive to gobble up the remaining 'loose ends' as in Cranbourne, and Driver's metro and peninsula operations? Other than these and the Dineen Group companies, ie McKenzies and Martyr's, there are no other route operators left on that side of town. It's amazing how, in a few years, it's narrowed down to this. At least are all owned by Australian, nay, Melbourne long term family operators.

Given the size of this acquisition, I can't see them taking on anything for quite some time, they have a mammoth job ahead of them.

What effect will this tendering for routes nonsense have on relevant parts of their services?

It will have no effect on existing "grandfather" routes, and I doubt it will affect anything new, except perhaps the Smartbus services.

What sort of money was paid for it? I would take a stab and say around $250-300 mill.

I wouldn't think this info will be made public considering it hasn't been mentioned in the announcement.

[Peter1805]

And now on Ventura's website:

Ventura and Grenda Merger

Two of Australia's largest family based bus operators, Ventura and Grenda, will come together with Ventura being the successful purchaser of Grenda Transit.

Please click on the following link for the full announcement detail.

Press_Release.pdf

The link:

http://www.venturabus.com.au/dbuploads/Press_Release.pdf

[system improver]

Thankfully, the stories match!

I can't see the ACCC knocking it back, but then again, I'm not the ACCC.

Of course, the most important question has not yet been answered. What about the Heritage Fleet?

[huyie]

Given the merger, anyone know how much room is there at the Keysborough depot to accommodate additional buses?
One of the immediate benefits I can see is that this will help reduce the number of dead runs on 903 between Mordialloc back to the South Oakleigh depot, given that the Keysborough depot happens to be closer. The other being 900 running out of the South Oakleigh depot as previously suggested, with minimal changes to livery.

[scott]

This would probably be the biggest takeover of an operator in the history of the Victorian bus industry- possibly second to the Ventura/National takeover of seven years ago.

Would be very interesting to see how it all unfolds- fascinating times ahead.

[B7RLE]

This would probably be the biggest takeover of an operator in the history of the Victorian bus industry- possibly second to the Ventura/National takeover of seven years ago.

Would be very interesting to see how it all unfolds- fascinating times ahead.

Ventura dont actually own National its just a contract so Dysons could get the contract one day

But from what we were told today at work there will not be any big changes for atleast the next year possibly two but i would say all new deliverys will be blue

[huyie]

Ventura dont actually own National its just a contract so Dysons could get the contract one day

Financially, given the size of this merger, would this leave Ventura more vulnerable with the National Bus Company contract in 1.5 years time when the ex-government routes are up for renewal?

Would CDC be eyeing NBC after this, which would coincidentally see the reformation of the companies from the ex National Express Group? (NBC, Westbus and Hillsbus)

[Bradley]

That was a great possitive news.

I wonder how much it's worth??

Cheers

Bradley.

[712M]

So we're going to see bubbles in Dandenong?

[krustyklo]

So we're going to see bubbles in Dandenong?

Given the emphasis on business as usual and given that Designline are no longer in business, then my guess would be no, not in any significant quantity or any time soon. Volgren buses in quantity in Oakleigh on the other hand...

[Leyland B21]

The bubbles are not being produced due to no more designlines being delivered. Hence the Volgren Contract!!!

[krustyklo]

Must be true, it's in the Herald Sun...
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/business/ventura-will-dominate-melbournes-bus-networks-after-buying-grenda/story-fn7j19iv-1226199434989

[Craig]

Must be true, it's in the Herald Sun...
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/business/ventura-will-dominate-melbournes-bus-networks-after-buying-grenda/story-fn7j19iv-1226199434989

Note this comment from Andrew Cornwall:
"We will be maintaining the Grenda branding as we recognise the culture of the business and that it's aligned to certain areas."

Having said that, doesn't mean things won't eventually change - Mt Dandy, Nationalbus & US kept their seperate brands initially, but their new buses still went into the two-tone blue & notices in buses etc gradually refer to Ventura now, instead of Nationalbus or US. Ivanhoe seems to escaped any notable change thus far. The cost of changing the livery & Metlink signage would no dobut be a factor in keeping the various Grenda brands, as it has been with with Nationalbus.

Same with Invicta - Grenda's may have kept the name, but the unique livery soon disappeared off most of the fleet, and the recent arrivals are branded as Grenda.

Kind Regards


Craig

[CB80]

Note this comment from Andrew Cornwall:
"We will be maintaining the Grenda branding as we recognise the culture of the business and that it's aligned to certain areas."

Kind Regards
Craig

I think he said a similar thing when they took over U.S, I think he means for the meantime the brand will remain, until people start to know that Ventura own the company.

But any speculation of changes to routes and which depots run what is largely pointless at this stage, due to the size of the merger I wouldn't expect any major changes for at least one year but probably longer.

[Peter1805]

Also reported in The Age:

http://www.theage.com.au/business/end-of-line-for-grenda-bus-group-20111118-1nndt.html

End of line for Grenda bus group
Ian McIlwraith
November 19, 2011
ventura bus

Ventura is to pick up Grenda's fleet.

AFTER three generations, Melbourne's Grenda family has sold its 650 bus operation to another family-owned group, the Cornwall family's Ventura Bus Lines, in what is thought to be a $400 million-plus deal.

The family is also selling its bus-building operation, Volgren - which last year turned over $236 million, and lifted profit from $10.9 million to $13.4 million - most probably worth more than $600 million.

Ventura's win in the auction of Grenda Transit Management, run by investment bank UBS, will have effectively doubled its size.

It also beat its competitor, the CDC joint venture between Cabcharge and Singapore group ComfortDelGro, which wanted to expand their bus operations from Melbourne's west to the eastern suburbs.

Both CDC and Ventura applied to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission last month for approval to acquire Grenda, given their large existing businesses in running suburban buses. The commission is due to make a decision next Thursday.

The Grenda family's decision to sell the business was, according to family patriarch Ken Grenda, ''difficult''. It is believed that, like so many family businesses built up over decades, the businesses had outgrown the family and the Grendas were looking for the most equitable way of distributing the accumulated wealth to current family members, many of whom have no connection with the operations.

The Grendas told all their staff of the sale decision in August, after which UBS began marketing the bus business that turns over $155 million a year - 90 per cent of that government contracts that run until 2018.

[dex]

I think you'll find not much will change. VBL wouldnt bought Grenda if they thought partnerships with Dyson and Tulla were viable. Having said that, it doesnt affect me in the slightest. Well done to both parties. Big coin but im sure it will be worth it.

[stevegj52]

Wish Ventura well with their Aquisition of Grenda's, interesting times in the Industry.

[stajourneyman]

Interesting that The Age was able to have a stab at Grenda's value, and also that they seem to have access to precise figures on Volgren's turnover and profit margins.

Of further interest is the fact that if the Volgren figures are correct, Grenda's bodybuilding business is worth one and a half times the value of their core operation.

Of further further interest is the fact that, again assuming the Age figures are accurate, Volgren returns a mere 2% of it's value per annum, in profit. Umm, what's the going rate for cash in the bank these days?

[Peter1805]

They may have overvalued Volgren at $600 million, at least in the current economic climate... but it is a very big business, and a very well run one... just that a few things have gone against it in recent times, including as regards orders from some large customers, together with exchange rate issues and others.

I'd still say it's worth at least $400 million, but I'm far from an expert in these matters.

What I particularly like about the business are its emphases on innovation, excellence and safety.

Also, a more relevant percentage is probably the percentage of profit to turnover, rather than the percentage of profit to "value".

[stajourneyman]

Profit to turnover is well and good, but if you have a(n arguably) $600 million asset that's making a $13 million profit, you have to consider the benefit of it.

If that asset were sold for that price and the cash was dumped in the bank earning 10%, the end year profit wouldn't be $13 million, rather it would be $60 million.

Now I know buses are fun'n all, but I'd cash the business in and lay on the beach and earn and extra $47 million!