Dreamliner Acquires Hemphill Brothers Coach in Blockbuster Deal
Written by djfrosty on November 8, 2023
Dreamliner Luxury Coaches has acquired Hemphill Brothers Coach Company, combining the two private bus and coach tour operators into the largest provider of entertainer busses in the world.
Formed just three years ago, the Nashville-based Dreamliner now boasts a fleet of 190 high-end luxury coaches, servicing approximately 50% of North American arena and stadium touring market, CEO Jeremy Maul estimates. The high-end bus company specializes in leasing and servicing artist and headliner buses with a client list that includes Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake, Drake, Jonas Brothers, Chris Stapleton, Olivia Rodrigo, Zach Bryan and more.
Hemphill Brothers was launched in 1980 by Joey and Trent Hemphill, Tennessee-based brothers who toured in the family Gospel band and eventually bought out their father’s two-bus leasing company. In 1995, Hemphill Brothers opened their current 55,000 square foot office complex and shop facility on 15 acres of land near Nashville.
Dreamliner was founded in late 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic by businessman Rich Thomson, managing partner at Caprice Capital Partners and Jeremy Maul, Thomson saw the revival of the touring business as potential investment opportunity for his LA based private investment firm focused mainly on small cap companies with at least $2 million in EBITDA.
The bet on Dreamliner was fairly simple – while the pandemic had completely devastated the touring and concert business, the industry was expected to come back strong in mid-to-late 2021, as evidenced by ticket purchases during the pandemic and pent-up demand. Artists returning to the road would encounter a shortage of high-end luxury buses due to a pivot in the transportation industry away from concert touring.
The tour bus shortage, coupled with the explosion in demand, caused the leasing price for tour buses to nearly double overnight and created a backlog of demand for the industry, Maul explained.
Dreamliner’s first tour was the Jonas Brothers’ August 2021 tour. In June 2022, Dreamliner purchased Diamond Coach leasing from founder Kyle Ervin, growing the company’s fleet from 12 buses to 75 buses while establishing the company’s headquarters in Nashville.
Maul told Billboard that the Hemphill purchase took approximately one year to finalize. The combined business is expected to generate $100 million in business in 2024 from a fleet of 190 coaches, Maul said.
That puts Dreamliner ahead of Encore Luxury Coach, which briefly held the title of largest entertainment coach leasing company in North America following its acquisition of Nitetrain in September.
“As we further our goal of redefining the art of tour travel, we will leverage the strengths and experience at the heart of both Dreamliner and Hemphill to become the industry’s largest and most sought-after resource for high-end tour coaches,” Maul said in a recent press release.