Before we dive into this week’s topic,
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State of Play
Over the last few months, I’ve had several folks share their ideas around rolling up marinas. The first time I heard it, I thought it was a unique idea and then as it came up multiple times, I realized that there must be some story here.
First off, rolling up marinas is an active thesis with multiple players pursuing it:
In April 2025, Blackstone Infrastructure paid $5.65 billion for Safe Harbor Marinas, at a reported ~20x EBITDA
In April 2026, KSL sold Southern Marinas to Stonepeak
Centerbridge Partners, the private equity firm behind today’s case study Suntex Marinas, has reportedly been shopping a minority stake at a $4 billion valuation.
Bain Capital has a platform called BlueWater picking off the coastal marinas
And a Miami outfit called Bowline Capital, founded in 2022 by two recent graduates of University of Chicago, has bought ten marinas in about two years.
We at RTC love this dynamic of mega funds printing big multiples on one end, and new acquisition entrepreneurs entering on the other end. So again, curiosity got the best of us.
Let's dive in.