PRIVATE equity-owned ferry operator StraitNZ has joined Australia’s Strait Link on the sales list, according to a report in The Australian.
StraitNZ, which provides the two-ship BlueBridge service between Wellington and Picton in competition with the New Zealand Government-owned Interisland Line (KiwiRail), has not commented on the report carried by the publication’s Data Room column.
The company is owned by Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners, which reportedly paid more than NZ$500 million in 2022 when it bought the business from Australia’s CPE Capital. CPE had purchased the-then Strait Shipping from the founding Barker family in 2016 and combined it with Freight Lines and Streamline Freight to bolster the business and extend its supply chain coverage.
Strait Shipping’s first Cook Strait vessel in 1992 was the former RH Houfe/Tasmanian Transport Commission ro-ro Straitsman which after the New Zealand service was sold to Fijian owners and later foundered in Suva Harbour, where it remains.
In the last two years StraitNZ has renewed its fleet, most recently with the arrival of the former Stena vessel Livia, which in August joined the 2023-introduced Connemara. BlueBridge now holds 50% of the Cook Strait freight market and more than 30% of the passenger market.
Bass Strait operator Strait Link, the former Toll Shipping acquired by Sydney’s Allegro in September 2021, was placed on the market in late August with expectations of $500 million according to the Australian Financial Review. Little has been heard of the possible sale since.
New Zealand media says MSIP has an expectation of around NZ$1 billion for StraitNZ.