Delaware North buys Australian resorts
The Buffalo-based Delaware North Companies is expanding its hotel and resort operations to Australia with the purchase of six luxury properties scattered from the Great Barrier Reef to the northern Outback.
Delaware North, a hospitality and food service company with more than 50,000 employees worldwide and more than $2 billion in annual sales, has purchased the properties from the Sydney-based GPT Group. Terms of the purchase, which is expected to become final in October, were not disclosed.
Now operating under the Voyages brand, the properties range in size from the 128-room Kings Canyon Resort in the Northern Territory to the secluded hideaway of the Great Barrier Reef's Wilson Island Resort, a collection of six luxury tents that employs but four people. Web sites for each of the resorts stress the opportunity guests have to view unspoiled natural beauty in remote locations.
"Visitors to our resorts will find themselves in special places that only Australia can offer," said Jonathan Tribe, managing director of Delaware North Companies International.
In a press release, Tribe said the transaction was in keeping with the company's long-term plan to expand its operations in Australia and throughout the Asia Pacific region. The statement said the new owners intend to offer current employees the opportunity to remain with the business.
Delaware North already operates food service and retail facilities in airports, sporting facilities and workplaces in New Zealand and Australia, ranging from the Mulwala Explosives Factory to the Melbourne site of the Australian Open tennis tournament.
The company also is already in the resort business in the United States, running spas and lodges from New York to California. It also runs food service operations in sports facilities and airports in the United States and Great Britain.
Resorts included in the transaction are:
* Kings Canyon Resort, Northern Territory, 128 rooms plus camping, 70 employees.
* Heron Island Resort, Queensland, 109 rooms, 80 employees.
* El Questro Wilderness Park, Western Australia, a working cattle station, 60 deluxe tents, 12 bungalows and camping, 70 employees.
* Lizard Island Resort, Queensland, 40 rooms, 70 employees.
* El Questro Wilderness Park, Western Australia, six rooms, 12 employees.
* Wilson Island Resort, Queensland, six luxury tents, four employees.
Web site information at: www.delawarenorth.com or www.voyages.com.au
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