Kinetic Group
Kinetic is an Australian-based public transport company, formerly known as AATS Group prior to August 2019. It is majority owned by Canadian pension fund OPTrust.[1] It is also the parent company of airport transit provider SkyBus.
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Industry | Bus transportation |
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Founded | 2014 |
Founder | Michael Sewards (co-CEO) Adam Begg (co-CEO) |
Headquarters | |
Area served | Australia New Zealand |
Parent | OPTrust |
Subsidiaries | Go Bus SkyBus Telford's Bus & Coach Sunbus Surfside Buslines Love's Bus Service Queensland (LBSQ) |
Website | wearekinetic.com |
History
AATS started out as a consortium, which included Catalyst Direct Capital Management and OPTrust Private Markets Group, in 2014 to purchase SkyBus.[2][3] Michael Sewards and Adam Begg were the founders and became the co-CEOs of the company.[1]
AATS purchased Transit Australia Group (TAG) in April 2019, including bus companies Sunbus and Surfside Buslines.[4][5] Following the purchase, in August 2019, AATS Group was rebranded the Kinetic Group, and remains the parent company of SkyBus and TAG.[6][7] In the same month, OPTrust began to seek a co-investor in Kinetic Group, who will hold a minority share in the group.[8]
Kinetic acquired Sydney bus and coach charter company Telford's Bus & Coach in November 2019,[9][10] followed by Cairns bus operator Love's Bus Service Queensland (LBSQ) in January 2020.[11][12]
In March 2020, it was announced that Kinetic would buy GoBus and its 1700 buses, subject to approval by the New Zealand Overseas Investment Office.[13] Approval was given in June and the acquisition was completed in August 2020.[14][15]
Subsidiaries
Australia and New Zealand
Queensland
- Love's Bus Service Queensland (LBSQ)
- Sunbus
- Sunbus Cairns
- Sunbus Magnetic Island
- Sunbus Rockhampton
- Sunbus Sunshine Coast
- Sunbus Townsville
- Surfside Buslines
New South Wales
- Surfside Buslines
- Telford's Bus & Coach
New Zealand
References
- "Kinetic". Kinetic. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
- OPTrust, Catalyst acquire Australia’s SkyBus AltAssets 8 September 2014
- "About Skybus". SkyBus. Archived from the original on 13 July 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
- "SkyBus Operator AATS Group Acquires Transit Australia Group" (PDF). Kinetic. 2 April 2019. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
- "Skybus Operator to Acquire Transit Australia Group - Bustech not Included". Australasian Bus & Coach. 2 April 2019. Archived from the original on 22 April 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
- "Leading Australian Transit Provider Relaunches as Kinetic" (PDF). Kinetic. 8 August 2019. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
- "Skybus parent relaunched as 'Kinetic'". Australasian Bus & Coach. 8 August 2019. Archived from the original on 20 August 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
- "OPTrust brings in bankers to find new partner for SkyBus owner Kinetic". Australian Financial Review. 18 August 2019. Archived from the original on 18 August 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
- "Kinetic bolsters Queensland footprint with new acquisition" (PDF). Kinetic. 21 November 2019. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
- Telford's sold to Skybus Kinetic Group Australasian Bus & Coach 21 November 2019
- "Kinetic bolsters Queensland footprint with new acquisition" (PDF). Kinetic. 21 January 2020. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
- "Kinetic Acquires Second Cairns Company: Love's Bus Service". Australasian Bus & Coach. 22 January 2020. Archived from the original on 28 January 2020. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
- "SkyBus operator set to buy Go Bus from two iwi". RNZ. 16 March 2020. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
- "Kiwi transport company Go Bus sold to major Australian operator Kinetic". Stuff. 4 August 2020. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
- "Kinetic completes NZ Go Bus acquisition". Australasian Bus & Coach. 4 August 2020. Retrieved 7 August 2020.