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Lonsdale Capital Partners backs management buyout of the Global Yachting Group

Lonsdale Capital Partners has supported a management buyout of the Global Yachting Group (GYG), which includes the two established trading brands Pinmar and Rolling Stock and is one of the world's leading providers of services to superyachts.

GYG's management team is led by former yacht captains, Remy Millott (Executive Chairman), Rupert Savage (CEO), and Peter Brown (COO), who will each make a significant investment in the business alongside majority stakeholder Lonsdale.
 
Headquartered in Palma, Mallorca, GYG specialises in painting and maintaining superyachts, and operates across Europe and the United States. It has provided services to many of the world’s most high profile superyachts. 
 
GYG was formed following the 2014 merger of two well-known superyacht service businesses: Pinmar (established in 1975), and Rolling Stock (established 1989). It has seen strong growth to date, with revenues rising from circa EUR35 million in 2013 to circa EUR50 million in 2015, an increase of approximately 40 per cent over the past two years.
 
There are four main strands to the GYG business: painting new built superyachts; re-painting existing yachts; scaffolding and containment (often in conjunction with re-painting); and retail (of chandlery and supply, along with other items required on yachts).
 
This investment in GYG comes at a time when the number of superyachts on the water continues to grow, in line with the increasing number of billionaires. In 2015, there were approximately 5,200 superyachts in operation and the fleet is expected to rise some 15 per cent to 6,000 by 2020, according to Superyacht Intelligence; while the number of billionaires is expected to rise by over 30 per cent, from 1700 in 2015, to 2500 in 2020 according to UBS.
 
The annual running costs for a superyacht equate to approximately 8-10 per cent of the original acquisition cost of the vessel, and yacht painting is the most expensive single element of maintenance spend.  Alongside the yacht’s interior, it is also the second most expensive element of new yacht build after metalwork. The superyacht painting market is growing at an estimated 6 per cent CAGR (source: Parthenon).
 
With Lonsdale's investment and wider support, GYG intends to grow organically and through acquisition, developing its new build and refit capabilities, as well as its presence in the world’s premier shipyards.
 
Remy Millott, Executive Chairman of the Global Yachting Group, says: “Our goal is to take the Global Yachting Group from being the world’s leading provider of painting services to superyachts and establishing it as the largest service company in the world for the superyacht industry.   We are excited to have Lonsdale Capital Partners behind our ambitious growth strategy.  We believe that in Lonsdale we have the perfect partner to expand both our range of services and our geographic reach.”
 
Alan Dargan, founder of Lonsdale Capital Partners, says: “We invested in the Global Yachting Group because it has an experienced and proven management team, the sector is growing fast and the business is the leader in its field. We will support the group's continued strong growth and look forward to working with Remy, Rupert and their team.”
 
This is a third investment in 12 months for Lonsdale Capital Partners, which focuses on the smaller to mid market in the UK and Europe with an enterprise value of GBP10-GBP50 million. 

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