ThinCats supports The Marine & Property Group Ltd with £10m+ funding
The Marine & Property Group Ltd (The Marine Group), the largest marina business in Wales has secured a £10.4m funding package from ThinCats, the leading alternative finance lender to medium-sized businesses. Headquartered at Cardiff Marine Village, The Marine Group was established in 2007 and has grown to become the largest owner of marina berths in Wales located across four premium marinas: Cardiff, Burry Port, Port Dinorwic and Aberystwyth.
Led by founders Christopher Odling-Smee and Drew McDonald, The Marine Group’s main services include marina berthing with more than 1,200 berths based along the Welsh coast, 70,000 square feet of commercial property, boatyard services, boat refit and repair, and mobile mechanical engineering.
The funding from ThinCats will be employed to consolidate a number of existing loans and to support further expansion including acquisitions and greater diversification into activities such as dredging. The transaction represents the largest funding by ThinCats so far to a business whose activities are solely based in Wales.
The transaction was led by Christopher Odling-Smee on behalf of The Marine Group and introduced to business development director Kash Moghul of ThinCats by an Essex based adviser.
Christopher Odling-Smee, executive director of The Marine Group “We reached a stage in our development where we needed a clear funding strategy to support our longer-term growth ambitions. Up until now we had accumulated a range of tactical loans from a variety of lenders including the high street banks. Having made contact with Kash and the ThinCats team, they recognised our potential and helped shape an approach that will allow us to expand our existing activities and diversify into newer areas such as increasing our dredging capacity.”
Kash Moghul, director business development, ThinCats “The Marine Group has a clearly defined growth strategy, high barriers to entry, diverse income streams and an excellent leadership team in Chris and Drew. ThinCats is keen to support regional entrepreneurs with strong links to their local communities, so this transaction ticks all our boxes.”
Alison Whistance, director regional business development for ThinCats in Wales “This is a landmark deal for ThinCats. The Marine Group is already the leading operator of marinas in Wales – owning 25% of the berths available – yet they are keen to expand further. We are delighted to be supporting these ambitions and hope this funding will be the start of a great long-term partnership”.