Under the Scheme of Arrangement, Apollo shareholders will receive 1 ordinary share in Tourism Holdings for every 3.68 shares held in Apollo and investors rushed in this morning to be a part of it.

Apollo’s shares jumped 26 per cent on the market’s opening.

Apollo will then own 25 per cent of THL, implying a 32 per cent premium on the last closing price of both companies’ shares.

Synergy costs were forecast to be up to $18 million and implementation costs would be $3.8 million.

Both companies operate a fleet of recreational vehicles for hire and the merger would mean a sell-off which would generate $38 million.

The Trouchet family, which started Apollo in 1985 and holds about 53 per cent of the company, have backed the merger. The family will own 13 per cent of the merged company.

The merger follows statements big losses for Apollo. In 2021 it posted a 20 per cent fall in revenue and lost $18 million, but it also said demand for its RVs had reached record levels. Tourism Holdings lost $NZ14.5 million.

It said the merger would mean it would emerge faster from the impacts of Covid.

“The board believes that the merger will accelerate the timeframe to re-establish normalised earnings and recommence the payment of dividends more quickly than Apollo on a standalone basis,” the company said.

The rationale for the merger was that it would provide increased scale in the key markets of Australia, New Zealand, North America, the UK and Europe.

It would also deliver a “steady state” earnings uplift of $16.2 million to $18.1 million a year.

Apollo managing director Luke Trouchet said the two businesses had similar operations and culture and both believed strongly in the global RV market.

“The proposed merger would give us a better platform to meet the ongoing impacts of COVID-19, continue to offer our guests the best combination of products, services and prices possible and better leverage the re-opening of global travel,” he said.