Purchase presents a much stronger position in the northern state and widens business in resources sector
March 26, 2012
Melbourne-based trailer-maker and spare-parts firm MaxiTrans is on the march, buying Queensland Diesel Spares (QDS) as it builds a national presence.
From April 2, privately owned QDS will add nine retail stores in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Gladstone to MaxiTrans’s eight stores in Victoria and South Australia and wholesale operations in Queensland, NSW and Western Australia.
The purchase price is put at $21.6 million, more than half QDS’s annual turnover of $40 million, on which it gains $4.5 million before interest and tax.
MaxiTrans sees the purchase as providing valuable additional exposure to the mining and resources sector, for which Colrain already supplies components to specialist trailer manufacturers.
QDS employs 75 people compared with Colrain’s 100, with Colrain’s turnover put at more than $50 million.
“In recent years, our parts business has been an impressive performer with a strong management team that has successfully re-engineered the business and expanded its product range beyond its traditional trailer parts offering,” MaxiTrans Managing Director Michael Brockhoff says.
“For the last two years, we have been on the look-out for opportunities to take the next step to expand upon Colrain’s success.”
Brockhoff adds that QDS is “a highly complementary operation with a strong presence in growing markets”.