Great Southern Rail provides luxury train services through the Australian outback, including the Ghan, which travels the 2979km route from Adelaide to Darwin, and the Indian Pacific, which travels the 4352km route from Sydney to Perth.
Serco, which has owned the passenger and rail group Great Southern Rail since 1999, also operates the Overland passenger service between Adelaide and Melbourne.
Mr Adrian Loader, Allegro founding partner and managing director, says that the opportunities in luxury travel have been boosted by the drop in the Australian dollar, giving overseas tourists better spending power and making domestic travel more appealing to Australians.
The Australian dollar was trading as high as $US1.10 in late 2011, but has fallen to $US0.77 following the collapse in commodity prices which has brought some relief to the manufacturing sector and to Australian exporters.
Loader says that Allegro will be funding the Great Southern Rail acquisition with 100 per cent equity and that Great Southern Rail's chief executive officer Mr Chris Tallent will retain his current position.
