European Boating Holidays

Deal Summary

Catalyst advised on the £30 million management buy-in of European Boatings Holidays (EBH) funded by RJD Partners.

EBH is a company formed to exploit the growing European boating holiday market, which is estimated to be worth around £125 million per annum.

With the completion of the deal, EBH simultaneously acquired the businesses of Locoboat, the second largest operator of European inland waterway boating holidays with 320 traditional continental barge style boats across Europe, and Cardinal Cruisers, a specialist operator with 15 high specification boats focused on the German market.

What difference did we make?

This transaction was a management buy-in led by Keith Gregory, with whom we built a strong relationship as he worked on the early stages of what became a complex, cross-border deal, involving the creation of a new parent company with subsidiaries and shareholders in a number of European countries.

The management team all had full-time jobs and were to join the business after the deal. It was therefore important for Catalyst to create as much as possible of the business plan to take the pressure off the team whilst they continued their jobs. Once this was done we worked with Keith to identify an equity funder and secure debt finance.

This needed careful thought as the assets of the business were spread across Europe, a feature that led many banks and funders to turn down the deal initially. RJD Partners’ experience in the leisure market and ability to back a business with operations outside the UK meant they were an excellent fit to provide equity funding for the deal. Debt financing including an asset finance facility for future capital expenditure was provided by Fortis Bank.