Private equity firm acquires Vigor Marine Group
Antin Infrastructure Partners, a leading private equity firm focused on infrastructure investments, has acquired Vigor Marine Group from an affiliate of Lone Star Funds, marking Antin's continued investment in U.S. infrastructure.
Vigor Marine Group is a leading provider of maintenance, repair and overhaul services, as well as marine fabrication and services to the naval, defence and commercial maritime sectors in the United States. With operations in five locations, the family of companies employs approximately 2,700 people in the Pacific Northwest, Virginia and California, and offers advanced services and complete solutions for the U.S. Navy, U.S. Army, Military Sealift Command, U.S. Coast Guard, state ferry systems, the cruise industry and the commercial fishing industry.
Based in Portland, Oregon, the company operates shipyard and fabrication facilities across Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, WA, San Diego and Norfolk, VA, with six drydocks and 29 berths.
Francesco Valente, CEO of Vigor Marine Group, said:
“This new partnership with Antin is a tremendous opportunity for Vigor Marine Group to realize our vision of being the most innovative, technologically advanced, forward-looking provider for the U.S. Navy and our many government and commercial customers.
“It represents a key moment for VMG and our maritime industrial base, when a strong investor recognized the value and opportunity in U.S. shipyards. We couldn’t be more excited to evolve and strengthen our ability to serve our customers through innovative solutions that get them back to work faster and with better quality than before.”
Antin Infrastructure Partners is a private equity firm focused on infrastructure. With over €33 billion in assets under management across its Flagship, Mid Cap and NextGen investment strategies, Antin targets investments in the energy and environment, digital, transport and social infrastructure sectors.
With offices in Paris, London, New York, Seoul, Melbourne and Luxembourg, it has over 250 employees.
Antin’s investment commitment will focus on ensuring capacity is aligned with the growing importance of the U.S.’s Pacific seaports, upgrading advanced manufacturing equipment and technology across all facilities, and developing workforce training programs to address skilled labor shortages in the maritime sector.
Ryan Shockley, Senior Partner at Antin Infrastructure Partners, commented:
“Vigor Marine Group represents the kind of long-term investment Antin pursues.
“We are very excited about the platform and are focused on expanding capacity. We look forward to getting to work with Francesco and his great management team to write another chapter in VMG’s growth journey.”
Ryan Shockley – Senior Partner at Antin Infrastructure Partners
According to the press release, the transaction positions Vigor Marine Group to expand capacity across the company’s five locations, accelerate work to innovate in the maritime sector and grow the skilled workforce to meet increasing demand.
Valente and the entire U.S.-based management team will continue to lead Vigor Marine Group, ensuring continuity of leadership and execution of Vigor’s long-term strategy. That continuity will help VMG build on its growth over the past two decades, which has featured organic expansion and strategic acquisitions. Over the past three years, the company brought five separate entities under the same brand, invested over $170 million in facility improvements and technology upgrades and introduced partnerships such as with Samsung Heavy Industries, which support expansion of MRO availabilities overseas and advances in U.S.-based technology and workforce development.
J.P. Morgan Securities LLC served as financial adviser to Antin and Latham & Watkins LLP and Milbank LLP served as legal counsel. Evercore and Macquarie Capital served as financial advisers to Vigor Marine Group and Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel.