Administrators sell British boat company in pre-pack
Leading manufacturer of vessels for offshore wind farms calls in Chantrey Vellacott administrators
CHANTREY VELLACOTT administrators have sold a manufacturer of service vessels to its rival in a pre-pack.
David Clements (pictured) and Richard Toone, partners at Chantrey Vellacot DFK, sold Isle of Wight-based business South Boats Special Projects (SBSP) to rival Alicat Workboats.
SBSP was the leading manufacturer of service vessels for the offshore wind power industry based in the region.
Clements said: “South Boats had a strong reputation and a healthy order book of some £21m and further enquiry pipeline of some £35m, which made the company an extremely attractive proposition.
“The new venture will be the leading specialist in the manufacture and service of crew transportation vessels to offshore wind farms and provide refit and repair facilities.”
The pre-pack sale managed to save 120 people employed at SBSP who transfer over to Alicat. However, Alicat has said it will create a new entity which will be an amalgamation of the two companies and made no promises that job losses would be ruled out.
An Alicat spokesperson told Marine Journal: “If we are able to continue the business successfully, jobs will be preserved, although we will not commit to numbers.”