De Facto supported this world leading shipyard in the business planning and project development work that secured a £7.0m investment in the shipyard’s refit facilities, including £2.9m secured from DTI’s SFI Scheme.
Award-winning Pendennis Shipyard Ltd is one of the world leaders in the construction and refit of multi-million pound superyachts.
The Shipyard was planning a significant expansion of its facilities to meet growing international demand for its boat-building and fit-out services, and it was clear to the management of the Shipyard that, without grant funding assistance, the proposed project did not ‘stack up’ financially. That is when they approached us for help.
We worked with the Shipyard to secure funding of £2.9 million towards the cost of the project from the DTI’s Regional Selective Assistance scheme (now replaced by Selective Finance for Investment), and from Finance Cornwall, a source of private finance set up under the Objective One programme for Cornwall.
We supported the Shipyard’s bid for funding with several specific pieces of work in addition to the applications themselves. This included bespoke research among international yacht management companies and yacht brokers to establish the market demand for the proposed facilities at Pendennis, and a comprehensive business plan. Once the funding award had been finalised, we provided PR support to the Shipyard in launching its plans.
Tony Hill, Finance Director said at the time:'We selected De Facto from a field that included national firms, and we are very glad we did. The service could not have been better, and they brought specific knowledge and experience that dovetailed with our internal capabilities perfectly. The De Facto team worked tirelessly alongside us throughout the process of pursuing the funding award – they kept believing when others might have jumped ship. After preparing the application and supporting information (including valuable input on the financials), a result was secured that meant the company could move forward to a fantastic future. Pendennis Shipyard is now enjoying the benefits of deciding to work with De Facto, and we can highly recommend it!"
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