Australia-based MFS Living and Leisure Group has announced it has entered an agreement worth in excess of AUS$150m (£63.5m, US$110.6m, 93m euro) to acquire Melbourne-based Oceanis Group, one of the world’s largest aquarium owners and operators.

The privately-owned Oceanis Group owns and operates aquariums in Melbourne and Mooloolaba in Australia, Busan in South Korea, Shanghai in China and Bangkok in Thailand and is currently overseeing the construction of an aquarium for the Dubai Mall development in Dubai, UAE.

The company is being purchased from a small group of shareholders including founder and managing director Peter O’Brien, who will remain in a management role and become an investor in MFS Living and Leisure.

Craig White, director of MFS Living and Leisure, said the Mooloolaba and Melbourne aquarium sites offered significant property development opportunities and that the company planned to expand Oceanis Group’s existing sites as well as building new aquariums.

He added that MFS Living and Leisure is also seeking to gain outright ownership of the Hotham and Falls Creek ski resorts from its parent company MFS Ltd, and that it plans to sell its three All Seasons-branded hotels in Queensland and the Northern Territory as part of its strategy to become an integrated leisure business focusing on operations with “established high cash flows over a range of diverse leisure pursuits”.

“MFS Living and Leisure Group has adopted a clear strategy to identify and acquire assets and businesses in the leisure sector which have the ability to deliver our investors a stable income stream while also having the potential for capital growth,” he said.

The acquisition of Oceanis Group is expected to be completed by 30 June 2006.