Public Transport Market Assessments

Background

NineSquared has undertaken a number of market assessments for several private sector clients in relation to the potential acquisition of major bus companies in Australia and New Zealand. Our experience and expertise in the public transport sector developed over 25 years means that we are able to provide advice about the public transport market in Australasia, insights into the statutory and operating environment and analysis about the likely future contracting opportunities.

Our role

Drawing on our team’s experience in the public passenger transport sector, we have been engaged to undertake market assessments and provide ongoing advice about the operating, statutory and market environment as part of the overall due diligence processes undertaken to inform acquisition and pricing strategies.

Our roles differ across different acquisition processes and have included:

• Developing comprehensive overviews of the Australian bus market including detailing major players in the market, contracting arrangements and timeframes and overviews of different regulatory regimes between the States in Australia.
• Advising about potential risks and possible opportunities in the Australian bus market for our client to consider.
• Reviewing and commenting on Vendor Due Diligence reports to provide assurance to our clients about statements made in the materials provided by the vendor, including consideration of likely future contracting and operating outcomes that may underpin forward looking financials.
• Reviewing and assessing fleet models to provide assurance about expected future capital requirements and that the approach being used in the models reflect existing methods of calculating fleet related payments and that any assumptions underpinning the model are realistic.
• Identifying growth opportunities for contracted bus services based on assessments of major projects, future expected land use developments and demographics within contracted service areas.
• Identifying the likely impact of changes in operating conditions such as increased working from home post pandemic and what they are likely to mean for future bus demand and revenues.

We have worked with private equity firms, investment advisors and operators looking to expand their presence in the Australian and New Zealand markers. For a confidential discussion about how we might be able to assist, please contract Robin Barlow (rbarlow@ninesquared.com.au) or James Orford (jorford@ninesquared.com.au)

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