Joint venture for RVs

WELLINGTON: Tourism Holdings, the world’s largest recreational vehicle rental business, has formed a joint venture with Thor Industries, the world’s largest manufacturer of the vehicles, to develop a single platform to connect a wide range of services in the growing market for RVs.

Aucklandbased Tourism Holdings will contribute assets and cash worth an estimated $US46.9 million ($NZ65.7 million) to the Cincinnati, Ohiobased TH2connect LLC joint venture, while Indianabased Thor will contribute $US47 million in cash.

The business is expected to lose money in the first two years of operation as it focuses on growing customer numbers, Tourism Holdings said in a statement filed with the NZX.

The two companies expect to leverage their relevant skills, business models and knowhow to enable the joint venture to become the leading global digital platform for the RV industry.

The venture will acquire US travel planning and travel data company Roadtrippers, including Roadtrippers’ Australasian arm; the Cosmos digital platform for RV customer relationship and fleet management, product pricing and booking and rental management; the Mighway peertopeer RV rental operator in New Zealand and the US; and CamperMate, the New Zealand and Australian camping app.

Tourism Holdings will contribute its interests in Roadtrippers, Cosmos, Mighway and $US2.5 million of cash to the venture.—