Bestport Private Equity has sold marine equipment business Lewmar Marine to Lippert Components, generating a 6.1x return on investment and an IRR of 41%. Lewmar Marine designs and manufactures products for sailing and power boats including anchoring systems, hatch and port light solutions, powered and manual glazing systems, sail control winches and hardware, docking products and steering systems. The business was founded in 1946 and is based in Havant, Hampshire. Bestport first invested in Lewmar in April 2014 alongside Shackleton Ventures to provide growth capital to facilitate the design and launch of new products and help the business expand into new markets. Since then Lewmar has grown its revenues by over 50% to £56.2 million, with EBITDA growing by over 200% to £5.3 million. James Stoddart, Founding Partner of Bestport, said: “We saw that the Company was an exceptionally well recognised and trusted brand in the marine market and that under the leadership of Peter Tierney there was an opportunity to expand and develop the business and its range of products. Peter and his management team have done a fantastic job in building a market leading marine products business.”
