Agathos sells majority stake in Cargostore Worldwide Trading to Connection Capital in £24m secondary MBO

Notice of sale – London, February 6th 2020

Agathos Management LLP is pleased to announce the partial exit of Cargostore Worldwide Trading Ltd, a global specialist container business. Clients of Connection Capital, the private client investment business, have invested £7.5m of private capital in the £24m secondary management buyout (MBO) of Cargostore. 

The transaction sees Agathos retain a minority stake, and the Management team led by CEO Justin Farrington Smith reinvesting alongside Connection Capital’s clients. £14.5m of debt facilities for the transaction and for expansion capital were provided by DunPort Capital Management. 

Established in 1993, Cargostore provides specialist transport and storage container equipment for hire or sale worldwide, primarily for the offshore wind power, oil & gas, international aid and defence markets. Based in London, UK, it has 30 strategically positioned storage facilities and depot locations around the world to service its diversified blue-chip international customer base. 

Cargostore has become a global leader in its niche with the world’s largest fleet of offshore “DNV-certified” refrigerated containers. Under Agathos’ ownership Cargostore has grown to c.£4m profit, with trading underpinned by significant recurring revenues from long-standing relationships with blue-chip customers. Further growth is set to be driven both by the rapid expansion of global offshore wind power installations and by favourable changes to regulatory requirements for offshore containers to be of the highest DNV certification. 

William de Laszlo, Founding Partner of Agathos commented, “Cargostore has performed very strongly since our original MBO three years ago. We are delighted to be retaining a stake in the business and being part of its next phase of growth under the stewardship of Management and Connection Capital.” 

Bernard Dale, Head of Private Equity at Connection Capital says: 

“Cargostore is a market leader in a fast-growing niche offering attractive returns on capital, with significant room for further growth thanks both to the increasing emphasis on offshore wind power in global energy policy, and favourable regulatory drivers that play to its offering.” 

“As a well-run, geographically diversified operator, it is in an excellent position to deliver on these opportunities, so we are delighted to ensure that the business has ample capital for capex-led growth.” 

Justin Farrington-Smith, CEO of Cargostore says: 

“Since 2016 Agathos have been an excellent partner investor in Cargostore and during that time have in no small way contributed to our successful business growth. Post transaction I am delighted that Agathos will remain a stakeholder in Cargostore and I have no doubt that continuing their involvement be of great benefit to all stakeholders.” 

“This transaction will be instrumental in enabling us to consolidate our competitive advantage and leverage favourable market dynamics to deliver our future growth plans. With a healthy pipeline of new business opportunities for 2020, building on a core base of long-standing customer relationships, it’s a great position to be in as we enter this new decade.” 

Agathos and Cargostore’s other shareholders were advised by DC Advisory, DMH Stallard, BDO Debt Advisory, BDO Tax, PwC and CIL. Connection Capital was advised by Gateley, KPMG, Grant Thornton and Marsh. Cargostore’s management was advised by Browne Jacobsen.