Tour operator Australian Wildlife Adventures (AWA) has announced its share buy-back from Intrepid Group, making the company once again 100 per cent owned and operated by the Haslam family.
This buy-back occurred through Intrepid’s exit from the adventure sector with its recent sale of Adventure Tours Australia (ATA) to Imperium Capital Group.
This enabled the Haslams to take back full control of AWA, with the family preparing to ramp up investment into its operations and fleet as they target further expansion in South Australia and Western Australia.
This development ends a four-year partnership with the Intrepid Group with AWA, one of the founding members of the Adventure Tours Australia Partner (ATAP) program.
AWA will continue to service Intrepid bookings until the end of 2020, as well as future ATA bookings through the new Imperium Capital Group-owned program.
“The Adventure Tours Australia sale to the Imperium Group came at a surprise, with no consultation prior from Intrepid,” Craig Haslam commented said.
“However, it made sense with their recent pivot to a DMC model in Australia.
“We were already in discussions with Intrepid for a share buy-back and the Imperium sale just accelerated the process. This has enabled us to be agile and ready to capitalise on new opportunities.”
Now in its 22nd year of operation, AWA will continue to run the Nullarbor Traveller camping tours between Adelaide and Perth, as well as the shorter six-day tours of the Eyre Peninsula and the South West of WA.
The company is expecting continued growth for its Xplore Eyre brand, with three private luxury tours from Perth of the South West launched in November.
AWA is hoping for further expansion through additional product development, with strategic partnerships and acquisitions also on the agenda.
