Chichester: Oceanair Marine sold to Swedish business in £16.5m deal

James Cowper Kreston has advised in the £16.5 million disposal of Oceanair Marine to Swedish-quoted business Dometic Group. The corporate finance team provided advisory services to the shareholders of Chichester-based Oceanair.

Oceanair is a leading original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of hatch and window coverings for the leisure marine, super yacht, residential and recreational vehicle sectors with operations and manufacturing in the UK and US. With sales to 32 countries, the company reported revenues of £11.4m for the fiscal year 2015/2016.

Roger Johansson, president and CEO of Dometic, said: “Oceanair is a well-run company with a strong position in its segments. In addition to strengthening Dometic’s presence in the marine market, we also expect significant engineering and commercial synergies as well as stand-alone opportunities from the acquisition. All in all, this is an excellent addition to Dometic and another step in our active portfolio management.”

Andy FitzGerald, managing director of Oceanair, said: “Oceanair has had a great journey over the last 25 years, delivering on some of the most creative and challenging marine projects. With Dometic as our new owner, we will be able to reach an ever larger customer base while continuing to excel in blind engineering and manufacturing. I would like to thank Stewart Lambert and the James Cowper Kreston team for running an excellent process, from identifying purchasers globally to negotiating the price and overall project management.”

Stewart Lambert, partner at James Cowper Kreston, added: “We wish Andy and the team well under Dometic’s ownership. I have known Andy for 5 years and we have worked hard together to position the business for sale and identify those strategic purchasers with the greatest synergies who would be able to accelerate the growth of the business.”