Lexington Corporate Finance (“Lexington”) has successfully advised the management team of Idwal Marine Services (“Idwal”) on the structure and commercial terms of the significant investment made by LDC in Idwal. The management team of Nick Owens, CEO, Dai Evans, CTO, and George Haysom, COO, will work with LDC to drive the development of its proprietary technology platform and expand its global service footprint.
Based in Cardiff, Idwal provides vessel condition and integrity inspection services, fleet monitoring and data services for customers across the marine industry. Its services are used by ship owners, brokers, ship operators, flag states, investors and other financial stakeholders when evaluating investments or divestments in marine assets and when assessing the condition of vessels and fleets. The business was formerly a division of Graig Shipping PLC.
The business, a certified carbon neutral organisation, was the first in the industry to include both decarbonisation metrics and crew welfare and working condition data in their reports. It is also focused on the provision of advanced ESG reporting to ensure that its customers are meeting increasingly stringent sector wide environmental reporting requirements.
Tom Coombes, Director at Lexington, commented: “The Idwal team have developed a true market leading offering from their base in Cardiff and they should be truly proud of what they have achieved to date. The transaction is a landmark deal for Wales with the team finding an ideal partner in LDC. Lexington is absolutely thrilled to have advised Nick, Dai, George on how to navigate and structure this private equity transaction.”
Nick Owens, CEO of Idwal, said: “We cannot speak highly enough of the professionalism, knowledge and support offered by the Lexington Corporate Finance team. The advice, patience and counsel throughout this important milestone for the Idwal management team, has been invaluable.”
Legal advice to the management team was advised by Tom Kelleher, Gareth Williams-Davies and Cath Golledge of Capital Law and transaction tax advice was provided by Ses Memhi and Adam Keates of Claritas Tax.