Littlejohn & Co., LLC, a private investment firm based in Greenwich, CT, has made an equity investment in Gulf Coast Shipyard Group, Inc.
Gulf Coast Shipyard Group, is a manufacturer of a variety of ocean-going and inland marine vessels for commercial and military markets under the brand name TY Offshore, as well as superyachts under the brand name Trinity Yachts.
Centrally located on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast manufactures offshore supply vessels, tank barges, military patrol vessels, tugs and superyachts from two facilities located in Gulfport, MS and New Orleans, LA.
Gulf Coast entered the commercial vessel market in 2010 with the brand name TY Offshore and has invested significant capital into its facilities to serve the commercial vessel market and has successfully built a significant backlog of offshore supply vessels and inland tank barges. The company also expanded its presence in the military vessel market.
Littlejohn & Co. intends to work closely with the existing Gulf Coast management team to support their strategic growth plans and continue investments in both shipyards.
John Dane III, President and CEO, will continue to lead the company as he has for the past 13 years since taking Trinity Yachts private from Halter Marine in 2000. Felix S. Sabates Jr. will step down as Chairman to become an advisor and consultant to the new organization.
Mr. Dane stated, "Littlejohn has an impeccable reputation along with the ability to bring equity, strategy and experience in order to successfully grow our operations and market share. I am also happy to announce that we will be starting a $9 million capital improvement program to the Gulfport, Mississippi yard which will increase our efficiency and annual output. These improvements will also upgrade our Syncrolift to 4,300 tons in anticipation of building ice class vessels for Arctic operations."