Big news broke in the yacht charter and catamaran manufacturing industry! Robertson & Caine (R&C), South African catamaran builder of the renowned Leopard brand, has been acquired! We reported on the sale of the sale of he Moorings, Sunsail and Leopard Catamarans (R & C) in 2017. But once again recently, R&C (Leopard) was shopped around as owner, John Robertson, sought the proverbial “sailing into the sunset”.
In March 2023, his retirement finally arrived as the globally present investment fund PPF announced its purchase of the boatbuilder pending approval of the purchase by the South African competition authority. In June 2023 the purchase was completed.
PPF was founded in 1991 in the Czech Republic following the Velvet Revolution in which 37,000 enterprises were privatized using a voucher system to benefit all citizens. PPF was one of the enterprises that arose to enable the quick and smooth privatization system and also to leverage the profits from such a daunting venture as the country and its neighboring Slovakia morphed from Communism to a republic form of government.
PPF continues to transform the world having moved on from its earliest focus to encompass investment in many industries. PPF is not new to marine holdings. In July 2021, PPF partnered with Groupe Beneteau to form Blue Sea Holding SRL to invest in controlling interests of Dream Yacht Charter, the world’s largest yacht charter company, and Navigare Yachting, the Swedish specialist in high-end yacht charter that is the fourth largest.
With the acquisition of R&C, PPF tacks slightly away from the yacht charter business into boat manufacturing. Sunsail / The Moorings holds the distinction of having exclusive distribution of the Cape Town-built catamarans. The 200 Leopard catamarans launched annually either go into their yacht charter fleets or are sold for private ownership under the Leopard brand. It will be interesting to see if Leopard's exclusivity to Sunsail / Moorings will move to Dream Yacht Charter, but no announcements have been made about those intentions.
PPF stated that the addition of the Leopard power cat production into its yachting industry portfolio is a strategic choice and represents its continued confidence in long-term value in the marine sector. PPF will fulfill Robertson and Caine’s commitments in and continue the development of future Leopard catamaran models.
2 thoughts on “Robertson & Caine ACQUIRED BY Investment Group”
Is PPF private equity?
Here’s a link to learn more about PPF: https://www.ppf.eu/en. Hope that helps.