Mainport Shipping

The business

Mainport Shipping is an integrated marine services business that charters survey support vessels to global geo data specialists in the international offshore energy sector and provides towage services across various ports within the Shannon Estuary.

The deal

Irish Mainport Holdings was founded in 1957 to provide ship chartering for imports into Ireland. Over the years the business has evolved and now has ship chartering operations around the world. IMH is headquartered in Cork and is led by Dave Ronayne (CEO), who has overseen the expansion of the business over the past 35+ years. The company currently operates a fleet of three survey support vessels (Mainport Cedar, Mainport Pine and Mainport Geo) which the Mainport Edge will join in early 2024 and two tugboats (Celtic Treaty and Celtic Fergus).

Mainport was looking for a partner to initially support the purchase of the newbuild survey support vessel, the Mainport Edge for c.€16m and further support its ambitious growth plans to acquire additional survey support vessels. MML Ireland invested alongside the existing shareholder IMH, giving MML Ireland a significant minority stake in the business. MML Ireland’s investment created an equity incentive pot for the management team and helped ensure the appropriate capital structure and funding for further organic and acquisitive expansion.