Good evening,

Buckle in for another bus deal. Boutique corporate advisers Nash Advisory has hit the road with Melbourne’s Crown Coaches, advising the nearly 60-year-old family business on a possible sale, Street Talk understands.

It’s another Tom Butler transaction, who is also courting buyers for luxury Victorian rehabilitation centre Hills & Ranges Private. He’s being assisted by senior analyst Jack Geason.

Crown Coaches is a family-run bus charter service founded by husband and wife team Victor and Julie Haoust in 1967. It’s still family-run today, operating throughout south-east Melbourne from depots in Nunawading and Dandenong South.

The business specialises in transport for students with disabilities. It also operates charter runs for schools and private clients, holding contracts with the Victorian Department of Education. The fleet consists of 157 buses, from mini (24 seats) to high capacity (61-plus seats).

Crown Coaches is being pitched to interested parties as a leader in fleet electrification, introducing one of Victoria’s first 100 per cent electric buses in 2009 and investing in electric fleet infrastructure via a partnership with Japanese conglomerate Hitachi.

It also houses a proprietary coach management system that is licensed to other bus and coach operators.

Sources told Street Talk that with 80 per cent of revenue under contract, the business was expected to deliver $29 million in revenue and $4.3 million in EBITDA this calendar year. Financial accounts registered with the corporate regulator show Crown Coaches increased revenue by 20 per cent to $26.4 million last year. Profit rose to $557,269.

The sale comes amid a busload of deals. Street Talk reported in January that Kinetic Group, the country’s biggest bus operator, was seeking to add a deep-pocketed investor to its register. It also follows the auction of Melbourne’s Ventura Group, and North Sydney Bus Charters being acquired by TrueGreen, showing there’s no shortage of interest in transportation assets.

Read the full story tomorrow and more on the Street Talk page.

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