Gate Gourmet to acquire two Qantas catering facilities

Gate Gourmet Holdings Private Ltd. of Australia has agreed to acquire two flight kitchens owned by Qantas Catering Group and operated by Q Catering.

The Q Catering businesses involved are its Riverside facility in Sydney and its Cairns operation in Queensland. Both are well equipped, with room for expansion, and offer a full suite of catering services. These include menu development; meal production; aircraft provisioning; post-arrival unloading; and dishwashing and equipment warehousing. Cairns also offers cabin cleaning.

“This purchase will complement and build Gate Gourmet’s existing business in the important Australian market, where passenger traffic is growing at an estimated 4-5 percent annually,” said Herman Anbeek, gategroup Senior Vice President and President of Emerging Markets. In addition, the purchase would alleviate capacity constraints at Gate Gourmet’s existing Sydney catering unit, he said.

Following closing, annual revenue for the assets to be acquired is estimated to be approximately CHF 50 million. gategroup expects the acquisition to be accretive within an 18- to 24-month window as a result of operational synergies, process improvements and effective management of commercial relationships.

While Gate Gourmet considers the assets to be attractive, the purchase price and other terms and conditions of the transaction remain confidential.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and approvals, including clearance by competition authorities. The review time frame is expected to be about three months. Financial results of the acquired assets will not be material to gategroup in 2012.