US investor Wildcat Equity Partners has agreed to buy Fraser Industries, owner of Fraser Shipyards in Wisconsin, and plans to invest $350m in the business, according to a company statement. The acquisition price was not disclosed.
The $350m is earmarked for expanding the shipyard and its workforce rather than for the purchase itself.
Wildcat expects the transaction to close in about three months, with Fraser co-owner and chief executive Patrick Kelly and his management team remaining in key roles.
Wildcat plans to deploy the investment over five years, triple production and add jobs. The programme includes a 100,000-square-foot facility for small and medium-sized vessels and another plant capable of handling Great Lakes freighters of up to 1,000 feet.
“There’s no plan at all to cut jobs, and in fact quite the opposite,” Wildcat Equity Partners group chairman and chief executive Eric Nicolaides said. Fraser will continue serving commercial and US government customers, including the US Navy and Department of Homeland Security. It will also retain Fincantieri Marine Group and Donjon Marine as partners in a bid for the US Coast Guard’s planned fleet of seven light icebreakers.
Fraser signed a memorandum of understanding in July with South Korea’s HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, part of HD Hyundai, covering shipyard design, robotics and automation, artificial intelligence, data systems, supply-chain development and workforce training.
Wildcat launched Wildcat Defense on 20 October, appointing former US Marine Corps officer Glenn Vogel as chief executive. Its Wildcat Infrastructure business separately submitted a non-binding proposal in September to acquire Austal USA at an enterprise valuation of $1.25bn to $1.35bn on a cash-free, debt-free basis.
Fraser Industries is a privately held US maritime group whose businesses include Fraser Shipyards, Lake Assault Boats, Northern Engineering and Fraser Terminal. Fraser Shipyards carries out shiprepair, maintenance, overhaul and newbuilding, while Lake Assault Boats builds aluminium vessels.
Wildcat Equity Partners is a privately held US family investment firm headquartered in Miami. Wildcat Defense is its investment and operating business focused on shipbuilding, maritime infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, critical materials and defence technology.
