Premier Marinas bought by the Wellcome Trust
Motorboat & Yachting: Charitable foundation the Wellcome Trust has acquired Premier Marinas for an undisclosed sum.
One of the UK’s largest marina chains has changed hands after the Wellcome Trust agreed a deal to acquire Premier Marinas from BlackRock UK Property Fund.
The Wellcome Trust has an endowment of £18billion, making it the second highest spending charitable foundation in the world.
Back in December 2014 when Premier Marinas was put up for sale, the group was valued at around £220million, although the sum paid has not been disclosed by the Wellcome Trust.
Founded in 1994, Premier Marinas has eight facilities on the South Coast, which can berth up to 7,000 boats. The largest of which is Brighton Marina (pictured above).
Peter Pereira Gray, managing director of the Wellcome Trust’s Investment Division, said: “We will take a long term approach to the ownership of the business and look forward to the continued success and growth of Premier Marinas.”
The Wellcome Trust spends more than £800million a year on supporting research, education and public engagement and it has previously backed the project to sequence the human genome.
Its other property investments include St Katharine Homes, Tune Hotels, and the iQ student accommodation business.
