Premier Marinas acquires Noss Marina on the River Dart

SOUTHAMPTON, U.K. - April 1, 2016 - PRLog -- Premier Marinas Limited has today completed the purchase of Noss Marina from the Administrators Duff & Phelps. The marina was purchased for an undisclosed sum following a period in Administration.  Set in 37 acres on the eastern bank of the River Dart in Kingswear, close to Dartmouth, the Noss Marina site accommodates 180 serviced pontoon berths, 47 river moorings and a limited boatyard operation.  Premier plans to work alongside local stakeholders to design and deliver a mixed use, employment-led, regeneration of the site, most of which is currently in a derelict and unusable state.  This regeneration is expected to bring over £100m of investment into the area, creating a new identity for Noss as part of the Dartmouth and Kingswear community.

Enhancements to the marina infrastructure are likely to include a new and larger marina; new berth holder facilities; a new boatyard with increased lifting capacity and workshops for complimentary marine activities and a new home for South Devon College.  Access to the site via the bridge that crosses the Paignton-Kingwear railway will also be improved.  The investment in the site will be supported by sensitive residential development.

Premier Marinas owns and operates 8 prestigious marinas on the South Coast and has an enviable track record in regenerating tired sites whilst preserving their marine character and the natural environment that surrounds them.  Recent projects have included the multi-million pound build of new boatyards and marine retail units at Premier's Swanwick marina on the Hamble and at the company's Chichester Marina in Chichester Harbour.

Pete Bradshaw, CEO of Premier Marinas commented 'We are delighted with the purchase of Noss Marina and are looking forward to working on the regeneration of the site.  We take a long term approach to the ownership of our marinas and have the experience and investment capacity to transform Noss Marina.  Noss is located in one of the UK's most beautiful areas and the coastline and cruising grounds accessible from the marina are breathtakingly pretty. We will create a marina to be proud of, we will preserve the character of the site and we will play a proactive part in bringing employment and economic growth to the area.'

'Sarah Bell, the Joint Administrators are delighted to announce the sale of the business and assets of Noss Marina to Premier that will safeguard the jobs of all the staff, having traded the business over the last 18 months or so.  We wish Premier all the very best for the future and expect there will be exciting times ahead with the plans that are being proposed.'

Established in 1994, Premier Marinas owns and operates marinas based in Eastbourne, Brighton, Chichester, Southsea, Port Solent, Gosport, Swanwick and Falmouth in Cornwall. With over 5,000 berths combined, Premier Marina aims to be the finest marina operator in the UK, providing first-class boat storage services and quality boatyard facilities at all its marinas. With the addition of Noss Marina Premier adds to its foothold in the West Country and provides more opportunity for boaters to cruise the South Coast moving comfortably between the company's marina locations. Premier Marinas Limited is owned by the Wellcome Trust. www.premiermarinas.com.

ENDS

The Wellcome Trust is a global charitable foundation dedicated to improving health, which spends more than £800 million a year to support bright minds in science, the humanities and the social sciences, as well as education, public engagement and the application of research to medicine. The Trust's £18 billion investment portfolio provides it with the independence to support such transformative work as the sequencing and understanding of the human genome, research that established front-line drugs for malaria, and Wellcome Collection, a free venue for the incurably curious that explores medicine, life and art. www.wellcome.ac.uk

Duff & Phelps is the premier global valuation and corporate finance advisor with expertise in complex valuation, dispute and legal management consulting, M&A, restructuring, and compliance and regulatory consulting. The firm's more than 2,000 employees serve a diverse range of clients from offices around the world. For more information, visit www.duffandphelps.com.

M&A advisory and capital raising services in the United States are provided by Duff & Phelps Securities, LLC. Member FINRA/SIPC. Pagemill Partners is a Division of Duff & Phelps Securities, LLC. M&A advisory and capital raising services in the United Kingdom and Germany are provided by Duff & Phelps Securities Ltd., which is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.