An investment vehicle founded by a former Tottenham Hotspur Football Club executive is sailing to the rescue of one of Britain’s biggest luxury boat-builders with a pledge to keep its manufacturing operations in the UK.
Sky News has learnt that Bronzewood Capital, the private equity arm of advisory firm Buchler Phillips, has secured the status of preferred bidder for Fairline Yachts.
Northamptonshire-based Fairline collapsed into administration in January, with insolvency practitioners Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) having conducted a rigorous sale process encompassing numerous parties with the objective of saving the company.
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Sources close to Bronzewood, whose boss, David Buchler, was a vice-chairman of Spurs for years, said it planned to retain the bulk of Fairline’s workforce as part of the deal.
It was said to have had 250 employees at the time of A&M’s appointment.
The price being paid by Bronzewood was unclear on Monday, with a deal potentially being completed within the next week.
If concluded, the transaction will be Bronzewood’s first since it was established last month.
The yacht manufacturer’s staff were briefed by the administrators that a preferred bidder had been chosen on Monday morning, according to a source close to the buyer.
Fairline’s collapse into administration came less than two months after it was sold to new investors, after DF Capital, the company’s main lender, triggered the appointment of A&M.
The business was sold in December by Hanover Investors to Arrowbolt Propulsion Systems, which was described in an announcement about the deal as a “clean propulsion technology company”.
Further details of that deal were unclear, although the statement in December said that Arrowbolt was appointing Peter Hamlyn, an experienced industry executive, as Fairline Yachts’ new chief executive.
Fairline Yachts’ collapse came nearly two years after rival Princess Yachts was sold to investor KPS Capital Partners.
Last autumn, Sunseeker, another big player in the sector, was sold to international investors Lionheart Capital and Orienta Capital Partners.
A spokesperson for Bronzewood declined to comment, while A&M could not be reached for comment.
