Castle Marinas and Aquavista to merge

[robtheplod]

Just had email from Castle Marinas to announce merge:

 

I wanted to let you know about an exciting and positive change here at Castle Marinas. Please be assured that this does not affect your mooring with us, and we hope to have you as a valued customer here at Ventnor Marina Ltd for many more years to come.

Over a period of time the owners of Castle Marinas have been looking for a strong business partner that is well positioned to invest in the business going forward, and which will enable continued improvements for our customers for the future. After a long and detailed process, we have now found just the right partner.

That partner is Aquavista – the UK’s premier inland marina operator, with a mix of leisure and residential moorings at 18 inland and coastal marinas across the UK. We are confident that, given the success of both the Aquavista and Castle brands independently, combining forces as two companies, learning from each other and moving forward as one team, will make each of our marinas an even better place for you to enjoy waterside life.

So it’s very much business as usual in all of our marinas. The day to day running of your marina is not affected, the marina team stays as it is, the services we offer remain the same, as do the office opening hours and so on. We will, however, be seeking out your views on how we can improve things at the marina to provide a better experience for you, so watch this space! If you already know Aquavista, you will already be aware that they constantly look for feedback from customers, and act on comments wherever they can.

From this week onwards, members of the Aquavista team will be visiting us here at the marina. They are really looking forward to meeting as many of you as they can whenever they visit.

If you have any immediate questions, please feel free to ask me. Our goal is for there to be as little change as possible in the short term.

Today is an exciting continuation of our successful journey so far and we are confident that the future is a bright one for us all.

[dave moore]

A friend of mine left his position at a marina after Castle took over. I doubt that this amalgamation will lead to long term improvement, perhaps I’ll be proved wrong....

[Slim]

Just received an identical e mail apart from Cropredy not Ventnor.  

[Liam]

And apparently Aqua Vista customers are getting an identically worded email, but obviously from Aqua Vista rather than Castle Marinas.

[Grassman]

 

 

Are Aquavista the company that bought the BWML marinas?

[Guest]

27 minutes ago, Grassman said:

 

 

Are Aquavista the company that bought the BWML marinas?

 

Yes.

[Grassman]

Thanks.

[NB Alnwick]

From the Companies House website:

AQUAVISTA WATERSIDES LTD

Previous company names

BRITISH WATERWAYS MARINAS LIMITED    13 Oct 2003 - 27 Jul 2020

 

So what are the likely benefits to moorers?

[MoominPapa]

15 minutes ago, NB Alnwick said:

 

So what are the likely benefits to moorers?

Less competition. Oh.

 

MP.

[NB Alnwick]

These days, where determining the real management control of many companies requires a degree of intuitive detective work to get through the maize of non-operational holding companies, charges, assets, and operational offshoots, it is not easy for an outsider to work out what is really happening when this sort of announcement is made. There are some familiar names appearing as directors of the Aquavista group and I can see that the recent name change was an expensive 're-branding' exercise but nowhere near the scale of the aborted scheme to rebrand the Post Office as 'Consignia'. Perhaps the consultants thought the name indicated a beautiful view of water?

My guess is that both groups have substantial loans secured against their assets because they will have borrowed heavily to establish their businesses. The action announced may provide better long term security and stability in an ever changing financial climate and this could be a good thing for those of us who are the customers.

Edited December 2, 2021 by NB Alnwick

[Tractor]

Perhaps it will be possible to fill the 'potholes' in the road at Cropredy now.

[Idle Days]

1 hour ago, Tractor said:

Perhaps it will be possible to fill the 'potholes' in the road at Cropredy now.

Steady on! 

[IanD]

2 hours ago, NB Alnwick said:

From the Companies House website:

AQUAVISTA WATERSIDES LTD

Previous company names

BRITISH WATERWAYS MARINAS LIMITED    13 Oct 2003 - 27 Jul 2020

 

So what are the likely benefits to moorers?

If you want to move your home mooring around from one marina to another within the group, more choice of locations?

[NB Alnwick]

3 hours ago, Tractor said:

Perhaps it will be possible to fill the 'potholes' in the road at Cropredy now.

 

It looks as if someone tried to fill them with ash - but probably the 'wrong type of ash' because unlike hard coal ash, the ash from wood and the manufactured briquettes commonly used on boat stoves, is not suitable for this purpose.

[Slim]

It's quite an 'interesting' a couple o hundred metres. Initially I thought they would re-surface it once the building of the new 'facilities' were complete. Since work on these seems to be taking longer than the building of the pyramids I no longer feel so confident. Heaven knows what a few frosts will do to the surface. 

[Momac]

10 hours ago, Grassman said:

 

 

Are Aquavista the company that bought the BWML marinas?

 

9 hours ago, The Happy Nomad said:

 

Yes.

No.

 

I visited Hull marina , by boat, in the summer .

On the card payment receipt was stated  BWML . Clearly Aquavista are the same  folks but simply a change in trading name.

Prices increased quite a bit compared to my previous visit in 2019 and the former discounts and offers gone.  All amounting to way above inflation increase.

 

 

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, MartynG said:

 

No.

 

I visited Hull marina , by boat, in the summer .

On the card payment receipt was stated  BWML . Clearly Aquavista are the same  folks but simply a change in trading name.

Prices increased quite a bit compared to my previous visit in 2019 and the former discounts and offers gone.  All amounting to way above inflation increase.

 

 

 

Well done you spotted the lack of precision in my answer.

 

 

[Allan(nb Albert)]

21 hours ago, Grassman said:

 

 

Are Aquavista the company that bought the BWML marinas?

Short answer - no.

Long answer - In 2018, CRT sold a number of its larger marinas to its wholly owned subsidiary,  British Waterways Marinas Limited in preparation  for a sale. Up until then BWML had operated some of its marinas rather than owned them. CRT did this by lending BWML over £14m to enable it to purchase some freeholds.

In December 2018, CRT sold BWML to Project Belize Ltd (probably for about £20m). Project Belize repaid the £14m loan and continued to run the the marinas as BWML until July 2020 when the name was changed to Aquavista Watersides Ltd.

[MartinC]

21 hours ago, Tractor said:

Perhaps it will be possible to fill the 'potholes' in the road at Cropredy now.

 

Ventnor can tell them the best way of doing it.

[Allan(nb Albert)]

On 02/12/2021 at 13:42, NB Alnwick said:

These days, where determining the real management control of many companies requires a degree of intuitive detective work to get through the maize of non-operational holding companies, charges, assets, and operational offshoots, it is not easy for an outsider to work out what is really happening when this sort of announcement is made. There are some familiar names appearing as directors of the Aquavista group and I can see that the recent name change was an expensive 're-branding' exercise but nowhere near the scale of the aborted scheme to rebrand the Post Office as 'Consignia'. Perhaps the consultants thought the name indicated a beautiful view of water?

My guess is that both groups have substantial loans secured against their assets because they will have borrowed heavily to establish their businesses. The action announced may provide better long term security and stability in an ever changing financial climate and this could be a good thing for those of us who are the customers.

From memory, Project Belize which owns Aquavista Waterside (formerly BWML)  is financed by private equity investor LDC, which is owned by Lloyds Bank. Aquavista have borrowed at least £35m from Project Belize.

[NB Alnwick]

On 02/12/2021 at 20:09, Slim said:

It's quite an 'interesting' a couple o hundred metres. Initially I thought they would re-surface it once the building of the new 'facilities' were complete. Since work on these seems to be taking longer than the building of the pyramids I no longer feel so confident. Heaven knows what a few frosts will do to the surface. 

 

Drifting slightly off-topic - the best fill for pot holes is good old 'MOT No. 1' which is a mix of stone dust and chippings of various sizes up to about 40mm. Because of the mix of sizes it compacts well and stays put without the addition of tarmacadam. In my day, we started to use this for vehicle paths on the railway - that was after the Environment agency told us not to use cinders.

[BEngo]

Graham is right about MoT Type 1.

 Wonderful stuff for light traffic  if  watered and well compacted.  Needs to be maintained though.  Any potholes that fill with water will grow like Topsy.

 

Boiler ash was the traditional material for topping off towpaths.  Often taken from the factories and ⁰delivered by the boats that had delivered the coal to make the ash in the first place.

 

N