Blackstone’s $5.65 billion acquisition of Safe Harbor Marinas shocked the maritime industry on Tuesday, Feb. 25. While the world’s largest alternative asset manager continued to increase its assets with the addition of Safe Harbor’s 138 marinas across the U.S., it didn’t do so before reaching out to Jim Bronstien and Kevin Quirk for industry advice.
Bronstien and Quirk are the founders of US Marina Group (USMG), a marina management company that manages marinas like Fort Lauderdale’s 17th Street Yacht Basin, Marina Palms Yacht Club in Miami Beach, Marigot Bay Yacht Haven in Saint Lucia. USMG also acts as a marine business advisory, offering marina assessments, feasibility studies, marina valuation, and acquisition help. The two bring 62 years of combined experience and are also co-founders of Triton.
Due to the combined backgrounds of Bronstien and Quirk, Blackstone reached out to USMG for consultation on the deal. Acting with complete discretion and professionalism during their period of due diligence, USMG was able to offer extensive industry insight in an efficient way, allowing the deal to come together as quickly as it did.
With the help of USMG, Bronstien, and Quirk, a historic marina deal occurred. Safe Harbor Marinas now looks to continue investing in their existing marinas while expanding their footprint, according to Blackstone’s Senior Managing Director Heidi Boyd.
Like Blackstone, USMG also has expanded with the addition of subsidiary Latitude Marinas which is now onboarding additional marinas in the Chesapeake area and other locations.
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