In this file photo, McKeil Marine’s Florence Spirit takes on a load of new crop soybeans at London Agricultural Commodities’ Port Colborne terminal along the weir in the city’s north end. The Burlington-based marine transportation company was recently purchased by a private equity firm with offices in the U.S. and England.
In this file photo, McKeil Marine’s Florence Spirit takes on a load of new crop soybeans at London Agricultural Commodities’ Port Colborne terminal along the weir in the city’s north end. The Burlington-based marine transportation company was recently purchased by a private equity firm with offices in the U.S. and England.
A private equity firm with offices in Greenwich, Connecticut and London, England, has purchased Burlington-based Canadian shipping company McKeil Marine Ltd. from Canadian firm TorQuest Partners.
Astatine Investment Partners (AIP), which focuses on infrastructure investments, made the announcement last week.
AIP chief executive officer and co-managing partner Jim Metcalfe said the firm was excited to partner with one of the “most innovative and trusted marine service providers in Canada.”
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“McKeil provides meaningful downside protection through its long-term inflation-linked contracts. There is also a tremendous opportunity to evolve its service offerings and strategically expand its diverse fleet. We look forward to working closely with McKeil’s management team and talented crew to further build upon its market leadership and historical growth,” he said in a release on the company’s website.
McKeil, founded by Evans McKeil in 1965, operates a fleet of 13 dry and liquid bulk vessels, as well as the largest in-class fleet of tugs and barges on the Great Lakes in Canada.
It delivers customized transportation and project services to a wide range of customers and industries across the lakes, St. Lawrence Seaway, East Coast and the Canadian Arctic.
Its vessels are frequent travellers on Welland Canal through Niagara and can be found being loaded with grain at London Agricultural Commodities’ Port Colborne terminal along the weir in the city’s north end.
Crew members on both vessels — 16 on Alanis and 14 on Florence Spirt — were not injured in the collision, caught on video by people walking a path alongside the canal, which led to both ships sustaining extensive structural damage to their hulls.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada found hydrodynamic forces caused the Florence Spirit to veer off-course and strike the ocean-going M/V Alanis.
In AIP’s release, McKeil chief executive officer Scott Bravener said the Burlington company was thrilled to be partnering with the equity firm and continuing its mission to become Canada’s premier marine transportation provider.
“We are confident that Astatine’s track record helping to scale marine transportation and logistics businesses makes them the ideal long-term partner for McKeil,” he said.
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