A retired Sydney ferry now running as a harbour restaurant has hit the market for $2.5 million, and it’s a good reminder that unusual businesses can fetch exactly what they’re worth when the sale is handled the right way. The lesson isn’t really about ferries. It’s about what a genuinely different business needs from the process that sells it.
A decommissioned Sydney ferry, now trading as a floating restaurant on the harbour, has just been listed for $2.5 million, as the Sydney Morning Herald reported this week. Finn Business Sales is Australia’s largest business sales network, with more than 600 businesses for sale right now, so we see plenty of straightforward businesses cross our desk. We also see what happens when something properly different comes along, and this one’s a good example.
A business like this doesn’t sell on its financials alone. It sells on its story, its rarity, and on finding the person who’s been waiting for exactly this kind of opportunity without knowing it existed yet. The risk cuts both ways though. An unusual asset marketed like every other business for sale can sit untouched for years, because the buyer who’d pay a premium for it was never actually looking in the usual places. Getting a business like this in front of the right handful of people matters more than getting it in front of everyone.
Here’s what I’d do with a business like this one.
- Work out exactly who would genuinely want it, not just anyone with the money
- Keep the process discreet until that right group of buyers has been found
- Let the story do some of the selling, backed up by real numbers
- Price it for genuine scarcity, not sentimental value
Would you pay a premium for a business that’s genuinely one of a kind, or does the story only matter once the numbers stack up?
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