UK banks support growing marine sector
A dedicated finance team has been launched by the UK’s Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank to help companies take advantage of opportunities within the growing commercial marine sector.
The new team comes at a time of opportunity for the UK’s marine industry as the offshore wind and energy sectors experience steady growth. With this comes a rise in demand for supply and maintenance vessels in the North Sea and around the UK’s coast.
Matt Smith, head of marine and transport at Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Banks, told Maritime Journal: “We started the dedicated team after seeing a rise in the number of marine companies and those marine businesses that already bank with us. They were seeing very strong growth, almost doubling their turnover over a three-year period, so the opportunity to invest was there.”
Led by Mr Smith, the team will provide a range of tailored solutions that will enable operators to use the equity held in their entire fleet if either Clydesdale Bank or Yorkshire Bank are the sole financial provider – a marked change from past arrangements in the sector which involved multiple funders to access finance for single vessels.
Loans between £500,000 and £50m will be available to marine companies, meaning operators could access up to 70% of the value of their whole fleet. Using the Banks as the sole provider of finance will also mean not having to track multiple repayments and negotiate different terms with multiple lenders.
“We’ve developed what we believe is a differentiated product for the market place. There are multiple opportunities for investment, which we are absolutely keen to support,” Mr Smith added.
Since first starting to concentrate on the marine industry back in February, the team of specialist marine bankers has already helped Atlantic Offshore, Inverlussa Marine Services and Western Ferries to refinance vessels and support acquisitions.
Presenting the team at this year’s Seawork International was also fruitful. “It was an excellent show for us. We gained a deeper understanding of the market and a number of opportunities came as a result of the show,” Mr Smith told MJ.
“Our plans going forward are to expand our marine customer base and really bring our differentiated proposition into the marketplace,” Mr Smith concluded.
By Rachael Doyle
