Oriens Capital invests in Kiwi Nautical Group Holdings Limited

Oriens Capital Fund 2 has recently completed the acquisition of Nautical Group Holdings Limited (NGH), a New Zealand entity that has acquired 100 per cent of the shares of Railblaza Limited and NTD Plastics Limited.

Oriens Capital has taken a 68 per cent stake in NGH. The directors of the board of NGH are now Ross Pratt, Railblaza founder and a continuing shareholder of NGH, Peter Tinholt of Oriens Capital, and Nigel Jeffries as co-investor with Oriens Capital and chairman. Marc Michel, an experienced senior executive, has been appointed as the new CEO of NGH which will see Pratt transition out of his current operational role over the next few months whilst remaining as a director and adviser.

“We are super excited to have Railblaza and NTD as the foundation portfolio companies to prove our investment strategy with further acquisitions to come,” comments Michel. “The group aims to achieve a dominant market position for each of its niche portfolio brands whilst accelerating an innovation focus with speed to market and with the group assisting portfolio companies to build out governance and corporate functions to a higher level of maturity to support global growth. The group will capitalise on a broad range of well-developed relationships with global distributors, partners and customers supplying best in class solutions.”

Railblaza was founded by Pratt in 2010 and is now an international brand across small-end marine and paddle sports accessories. Its product lines include kayak carts, rod holders and a range of mounts sold under the Railblaza and C-Tug brands.

NTD was purchased by Pratt (90 per cent) in 2016 and it operates an injection moulding facility. Approximately half of NTD’s manufacturing work derives from Railblaza and the remainder is custom tool making and injection moulding services for other customers.