Safe Harbor Marinas, the world’s largest marina operator, has acquired Lauderdale Marine Center (‘LMC’), a US service provider for the superyacht industry in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
In 1997, LMC sought to create the world’s premier superyacht facility right in the heart of Fort Lauderdale.
Today, it has a total of 106 slips, employs more than 100 full-time professionals and is home to hundreds of marine industry tenants and contractors.
Speaking about his acquisition Baxter Underwood, CEO of Safe Harbor Marinas commented:
“We are excited to bring Lauderdale Marine Center and their talented team into the Safe Harbor family.
“LMC is now connected to our network of superyacht facilities at West Palm Beach, Riviera Beach, Old Port Cove, Charleston City, and Newport Shipyard and will help us further grow along the East Coast by providing a world class 60-acre service and repair facility for our members.”
Safe Harbor Marinas is the world’s largest marina operator. Based in Dallas, Texas, the company is dedicated to providing exceptional service and memorable experiences to the global boating community.
With the closing of this transaction, Safe Harbor now owns and operates more than 115 marinas in 22 states.
The transaction was valued at approximately $340 million.
While Safe Harbor is the largest marina operator the worlds second and third world’s largest marina operators merged earlier this year when Suntex Marina Investors joined forces with established marina management company, Westrec Marinas, creating a powerhouse in this sector.
Owners of Suntex Marinas, private equity firm Centerbridge Partners LP, said it was paying about US$400m for Westrec, which will be absorbed into Suntex Marinas.
This will create a combined company with more than 50 marinas that is valued at US$2.5m, making it the second highest valued US marina owner after Safe Harbor Marinas, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The Suntex portfolio includes marinas located in California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, Tennessee, and Virginia.
