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NEWS
The Haines Group acquires Tournament
More Aussie trailerboat brands under the one roofConfirmed by our sleuths last week, established Queensland marine business the Haines Group has acquired the intellectual property and moulds for Tournament Pleasure Boats.
The popular and affordable Tournament fibreglass trailerboats will soon be built at the Haines Group’s premises at Wacol, Brisbane, alongside Signature and Seafarer boats.
In effect, this creates what is probably the biggest fibreglass boatbuilder in Queensland and possibly the company with the most GRP boat brands under the one factory roof in Australia.
The Haines Group is owned by the sons of famous boatbuilder, the late John Haines, who started the namesake household brand Haines Hunter more than 50 years ago.
John Haines Junior runs the business these days. Brother Greg retains a 50 per cent interest while taking care of local motor-yacht maker Maritimo's marketing.
The Haines Group also distributes Suzuki outboards in Australia and manufactures Seachange caravans.
We understand Tournament boats will be built pretty much as they are for the time being at least. A majority of the original Tournament staff were retained.
However, the Haines Group didn’t acquire Tournament's manufacturing equipment and will presumably share it's own existing inventory and tooling -- to gain assembly cost savings -- across the Signature and Seafarer production lines.
It is also assumed that the increase in boat transoms subsequent to the Tournament acquisition will further Suzuki’s expanding reach into the national outboard-engine market and trailerboat scene in general.
Designed for family and fishing use, Tournament boats range from the 1600 Cuddy and open Allrounder sister ship through popular Bluewater and Walk Around models in the 19-22 feet class, to the 2400 Club Sport sportscruiser. Prior to the acquisition there were more than 16 Tournament models to choose from.
The Tournament Pleasure Boats business was bought for an undisclosed sum, but we understand the motive was to keep the boats Australian-made and prevent another identity getting hold of the IP and dumping cheap boats on the market.
A formal press release is expected to be issued this week that will no doubt shed more light on the details of the deal.
Meantime, it is our view that existing Tournament owners and prospective buyers should take comfort from the acquisition by the Haines Group. More power to Australian boatbuilding. Tournament was well represented at last week's Melbourne Boat Show.
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Written byDavid Lockwood
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Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
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