Direct Ferries, the world’s leading ferry aggregator has secured new investment from financing partner, ICG. Livingbridge, the founding Davies family and Management have also reinvested into the business.
The refinancing deal will support Direct Ferries continued international growth strategy across its primary consumer business and fast-growing B2B and Freight channels.
Direct Ferries is the world’s largest ferry ticketing business, selling over 3m million tickets last year from 4,000 routes in 200 end markets across the globe. The company aggregates ferry routes, times and prices from more than 250 ferry operators and allows customers to find the right sailing, anywhere in the world.
Following the completion of the deal, Niall Walsh, CEO at Direct Ferries said: “I’m delighted to welcome ICG as a new partner on the Direct Ferries journey. The business has grown rapidly over the past three years, and we look forward to working with, and leveraging the experience of, a partner that supports our ambitious growth strategy and the Management team, to take the business to the next level.”
Mark Piasecki, Managing Director at ICG, said: “We are impressed by the growth journey of Direct Ferries in recent years and are delighted to be its new partner. We see further growth in its core international consumer markets but also in its fast-growing B2B and Freight channels underpinned by its strong technology and data science capability. We look forward to working closely with Niall and the talented management team to fulfil its significant potential.”
Direct Ferries was advised by Harris Williams (corporate finance adviser) and Eversheds Sutherland (legal counsel). ICG was advised by Clearwater International (M&A and debt), OC&C (commercial), KPMG (financial & tax) and Proskauer (legal).
