Macquarie buys Channel Islands ferry company Condor
Ferry Online Travel News 21/08/2008
The Australian-based banking firm Macquarie is buying another ferry company serving British Islands.
The Macquarie fund is the owner of the Steam Packet Company, which is the operator of another British Islands ferry service.
Banking giant Macquarie has entered into a multi-million pound agreement to purchase Condor, the ferry company serving the Channel Islands. The actual value of the deal is reportedly more than £250 million and it is hoped will secure the route’s long-term future.
Assurances of longevity were part of the agreement when Macquarie purchased the Steam Packet Company, as was retaining the identity of the oldest continuous shipping line in the world.
Condor Ferries operates service between Poole, Portsmouth and Weymouth to Guernsey, Jersey and the north of France. It runs the fastest crossing from England’s south coast to Brittany, in France, and accounts for approximately 80 per cent of the sea freight ferried from and to the Channel Islands.
The Condor fleet comprises four ferries, including three fast ferries that carry vehicles, and a conventional, all-weather ferry. In announcing the latest acquisition, Macquarie European Infrastructure reported that a deal had been reached with Admiral Holdings, the owner-operator of Condor.
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