Scottish Loan Fund invests in Fletcher Shipping
Funds enable purchase of new vessel.
Maven Capital Partners (Maven), manager of the Scottish Loan Fund (SLF), has today announced an investment in Fletcher Shipping. The SLF has provided £4 million upfront, with an option to drawdown a further £1 million, to part-fund the acquisition of a third Platform Support Vessel (PSV), the FS Taurus.
Since being established in 2011 by the Scottish Investment Bank, a division of Scottish Enterprise, to help address the funding gap facing the SME sector, the SLF has committed more than £20 million of funds in seven successful Scottish companies.
Aberdeen based Fletcher Shipping, which was established in 2007, owns and operates PSVs in the North Sea. These vessels support the offshore oil & gas industry by transporting everything an oil rig needs to function 365 days a year including food, consumables, production/drilling equipment, replacement parts etc.
Fletcher Shipping has pursued a strategy of acquiring well-maintained second hand PSVs with industry standard specification at a fraction of the cost of new build vessels. The vessels have proven adept at operating in harsh conditions with excellent reliability, which has helped maintain 100% utilisation across the fleet.
The FS Taurus will immediately go into service in the North Sea, where Fletcher Shipping has established an excellent track record for reliable, cost effective supply vessel solutions since inception. Currently all of Fletcher Shipping’s PSVs are chartered on long term contracts to blue chip operators with whom the business has fostered an excellent working relationship.
Jock Gardiner, Partner at Maven, said: "Fletcher Shipping is making the most of the opportunities which exist in the booming oil and gas industry in the North East. The company has firmly established itself in the market, providing an excellent service to its existing customer base and the resultant demand to charter its high-quality PSV’s has led to them being constantly in service.
"The business continues to be ambitious and the purchase of the new vessel will help it to significantly increase capacity. SLF funding has proved to be a perfect fit for what Fletcher is trying to achieve and we are pleased to support this dynamic Scottish SME with its growth plans."
Keith Fletcher, Managing Director at Fletcher Shipping, said: "We are delighted to be in the position of adding a third vessel to our expanding fleet. The joint investment between Maven and RBS has allowed us to pursue our growth strategy and realise the potential that remains in the North Sea for vessels of this size and capability. The venture demonstrates a positive move towards closing the finance gap for SMEs in the North East and we are grateful to all those who have been involved."
Kerry Sharp, Acting Director of the Scottish Investment Bank, said: "Fletcher Shipping is exactly the kind of company the Scottish Loan Fund was established to support. It shows both excellent potential for growth and a real desire to achieve it, but without this support it would have been unable to access the finance it needed to fund that growth.
"I’m pleased that the Scottish Loan Fund has been able to invest alongside RBS to help Fletcher Shipping take this next step into a promising future."
Background to the Scottish Loan Fund: the fund was established by the Scottish Investment Bank with £55million cornerstone public sector funding from Scottish Enterprise (including contributions from the European Regional Development Fund and Highlands and Islands Enterprise). Further investment from the private sector, including Lloyds Banking Group, RBS, Clydesdale Bank, Santander, Strathclyde Pension Fund and Aberdeen City Council Pension Fund took the total to £113 million. The SLF was set up to address the market need for finance by SMEs. It focuses on providing mezzanine loans to growth and export businesses with an annual turnover of more than £1 million. Maven was selected to act as fund manager In February 2011.
About Maven Capital Partners UK LLP: Maven Capital Partners UK LLP (Maven) is a small-to-mid cap private equity house focused on the provision of growth capital and mezzanine finance to SMEs across the UK. It is one of the most active private equity fund managers in the country, managing on over £280 million of assets for a variety of client funds, including Venture Capital Trusts, the SLF, Capital for Enterprise Fund A, and a number of family offices and high net worth individuals.
Headquartered in Glasgow, and with five other offices throughout the UK, Maven has nationwide coverage of the market for SME finance and is able to source a variety of deals through 16 regionally-based investment executives. With over 35 staff and partners, including three consultants, Maven executes a range of private company transactions, offers hands-on proactive portfolio management to investee companies and provides a fully integrated back-office support function to client and third party fund managers.
The Maven team has completed over 30 private company deals since June 2009, including 17 mezzanine and equity deals on behalf of the UK Government backed Capital for Enterprise Fund A, which was an initiative to help SMEs gain access to the financial support required to bridge the funding gap caused by the credit crisis.
About Fletcher Shipping: Fletcher Shipping was established in 2007. The company owns and operates 3 large platform supply vessels within the North Sea, all registered under the UK flag with their home port being Aberdeen. The vessels are operated using a 'self management' approach unique within the supply vessel industry. It gives the vessel crew authority and accountability to manage both their vessel and its budget. Supported by the head office in Aberdeen, this empowered approach enables Fletcher Shipping to respond quickly and effectively to the needs of their customers. Fletcher Shipping has a combined workforce of approx. 90 personnel.
About The Scottish Investment Bank: a division of Scottish Enterprise which operates Scotland-wide, in partnership with Highlands and Islands Enterprise. It operates a suite of funds including The Scottish Seed Fund, the Scottish Co-investment Fund, the Scottish Venture Fund and the Scottish Loan Fund to support Scotland’s SME funding market and ensure businesses with growth and export potential have adequate access to growth capital.
Further information:
Kieran Good at kieran.good@mavencp.com / 01224 517 123
Steve Marshall at steve.marshall@mavencp.com / 0141 306 7585