The country’s largest recreational marine retailer has acquired one of the world’s largest superyacht brokerage and services companies.
MarineMax announced today the acquisition of Northrop & Johnson, a global firm that has a strong emphasis on digital marketing and user interface, calling the transaction “highly complimentary” to its 2019 acquisition of Fraser Yachts.
“The merger with Northrop & Johnson marks another significant step in the diversification of MarineMax into a higher margin and digitally enhanced business,” said MarineMax CEO Brett McGill in a statement. “On a global scale, the unified team of Fraser Yachts and Northrop & Johnson creates an unprecedented superyacht powerhouse.”
The acquisition, which is expected to be accretive in its first year, makes MarineMax the “dominant leader in the superyacht services business,” the company said.
Northrop & Johnson has offices in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia, and focuses on yacht brokerage, yacht chartering, charter management, crew placement, new build consultation and yacht insurance.
The company’s digital marketing tools are among the most technologically advanced in the industry due to its content and state-of-the-art interface for users, according to MarineMax.
With the acquisition, “the overall customer experience will be enhanced through the ongoing development of the marketing capabilities which leverage the latest technology,” MarineMax said in a statement.
MarineMax hopes the move enhances client retention and further stimulates lead generation and client referrals.
Northrop & Johnson CEO and chairman Kevin Merrigan will continue to operate and manage its activities.
“From entry level boaters to the largest luxury yacht, we want our clients’ experiences to be the best in the world,” said McGill. “The acquisition of Northrop & Johnson furthers the MarineMax commitment to fulfilling our mission of exceptional customer service, regardless of whether a client is buying, selling, insuring, building, crewing or chartering. The combination allows us to provide an even greater network to serve our customers’ shared passion for yachting. We are very excited that Kevin Merrigan has joined our team. Kevin has many years of invaluable experience and has built a team that is passionate about the industry.”
“With the combination of the teams and resources of both Fraser Yachts and Northrop & Johnson, MarineMax can provide end-to-end global boating solutions as we grow the superyacht services business,” said Merrigan. “We are delighted to join MarineMax given that we both have always maintained a family-like culture and share similar ideals and values. MarineMax is the best partner to support the continued success of Northrop & Johnson and our very strong and tenured team.”
MarineMax said on Tuesday that revenue will exceed the same quarter in 2019.
The company’s liquidity, consisting of cash on hand and availability under its credit facility, now exceeds $180 million before considering its sizable unleveraged real estate portfolio.
