Antin to acquire Aquavista, UK’s largest marina infrastructure provider, to build on strong growth with LDC

Black and white image of a long and empty meeting room table

Sixth investment by Antin’s Mid Cap Fund I

Paris, London, New York

Antin Infrastructure Partners has signed a binding agreement to acquire Aquavista Watersides & Marinas, the UK’s largest marina infrastructure provider.

Founded in 2003 and based in Nottingham, Aquavista is the UK’s leading marina owner and operator, with 32 inland and coastal marinas offering over 5,300 berths and marine services across the country.

The transaction marks a successful exit for leading private equity investor LDC following a seven-year partnership during which the company nearly tripled revenue and doubled the size of its marina portfolio through a series of strategic acquisitions. This includes the transformational acquisition of Castle Marinas in 2021.

Building on this fast growth, Aquavista is ideally positioned to be the consolidator of the fragmented UK market, capitalising on a strong track record of organic growth complemented by successful acquisitions. The company also benefits from favourable underlying trends: UK boat ownership has been growing steadily, leading to rising storage needs, and growing demand for residential berths has supported high occupancy rates, low churn and resilient revenues.

Antin’s Mid Cap Fund I will be investing in Aquavista alongside CEO Steve de Polo and other members of the management team.

Upon closing, this investment will be the sixth by Antin’s €2.2 billion Mid Cap Fund I. Antin’s mid cap strategy focuses on smaller and medium-sized investments in established infrastructure companies in Europe and North America across the energy and environment, digital, transport and social sectors.

Simon Soder and Assia Belkahia, respectively Senior Partner and Partner at Antin Infrastructure Partners, declared: “Aquavista has all the characteristics we look for in our mid cap strategy, notably high barriers to entry and strong resiliency, and benefits from supportive long-term tailwinds. The company has a clear and ambitious plan to scale up its already leading presence in an attractive market segment, and we look forward to working with Aquavista’s management and team to support the company’s continued growth in marina infrastructure.”

Steve de Polo, CEO of Aquavista, commented: “LDC has been an invaluable partner and the scale we’ve achieved together has enabled us to significantly enhance our services putting us in an incredibly strong position for future growth. We are delighted to partner with Antin to build on the strong foundations developed with LDC’s support and accelerate our growth. We see many expansion opportunities ahead, and Antin is the right partner to help us consolidate our leadership and deliver our proposition of quality facilities and services to an ever-greater number of customers who share our vision of Freedom and Togetherness.”

David Bains, Partner and Head of the East Midlands and East of England at LDC, added: “Our seven-year partnership has established Aquavista as a market leader through organic and acquisitive growth, including the strategic acquisition of Castle Marinas, which we supported with significant follow-on funding. It has been a privilege to support this locally headquartered business to become a national success story, and we wish the very best to Steve and his team on the next stage of their journey.”

The transaction is expected to close in October 2025.

About Antin Infrastructure Partners

Antin Infrastructure Partners is a leading private equity firm focused on infrastructure. With over €33 billion in assets under management across its Flagship, Mid Cap and NextGen investment strategies, Antin targets investments in the energy and environment, digital, transport and social infrastructure sectors. With offices in Paris, London, New York, Seoul, Singapore and Luxembourg, Antin employs over 240 professionals dedicated to growing, improving and transforming infrastructure businesses while delivering long-term value to portfolio companies and investors. Majority owned by its partners, Antin is listed on Euronext Paris (Ticker: ANTIN – ISIN: FR0014005AL0). For more information visit: https://www.antin-ip.com/

About Aquavista

Aquavista is the UK’s largest marina operator with 32 marinas in unique locations across England. They offer residential and leisure berths, boat sales, floating homes and marine services. Aquavista believes that life is better by the water and are here to help their customers live that life. It is the company’s purpose to make things easy for their customers, so they can truly appreciate life by the water. For more information visit: https://www.aquavista.com

About LDC

LDC is a private equity investor and part of Lloyds Banking Group, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. LDC has invested £3.9 billion to back 179 management teams in the last decade and currently has a portfolio of more than 90 businesses. With teams based in every part of the UK, LDC invests across all major sectors of the UK economy and is actively supporting businesses in industries including Business Services, Consumer, Healthcare, ICT, Industrials, Media and Technology. LDC-backed businesses have grown 3.3x more than the average medium-sized business over the last decade. For more information visit: www.ldc.co.uk/pressrelease

Media Contacts

Antin Infrastructure Partners

Thomas Kamm, Partner – Head of Communications

Email: media@antin-ip.com

Nicolle Graugnard, Communication Director

Email: media@antin-ip.com

Ludmilla Binet, Head of Shareholder Relations

Email: shareholders@antin-ip.com

Brunswick

Tristan Roquet Montegon

+33 (0) 6 37 00 52 57

Email: antinip@brunswickgroup.com