MarineMax, the world’s largest recreational boat and yacht retailer, has purchased Cruisers Yachts of Oconto, Wis., which builds boats from 33’ (10.06 m) to 60’ (18.29 m). This comes on the heels of Cruisers Yachts’ acquisition of the Carver-Marquis factory and intellectual assets, announced last week. The 216,000-sq.-ft. Carver factory would allow Cruisers Yachts to double its production to more than 200 boats per year and thus be able to supply MarineMax with increased product availability.
MarineMax CEO Brett McGill said that the Cruisers Yachts fleet “filled a void” in its product line created in 2018 when Sea Ray exited the 41’+ (12.5 m) market of express and flybridge cruisers. Last year MarineMax bought Skipper Buds, the largest dealership in the Midwest, adding five dealers to its chain that sold Cruisers Yachts. Already, a MarineMax store in the Northeast has picked up the line.
MarineMax has 100 locations including 77 retail dealerships and 30 marinas or storage facilities. Company management said it wanted to ensure that its dealers will always have a premium American-built yacht in its lineup. The addition of Cruisers Yachts complements the Galeon Yachts (made in Poland) and Aquila catamarans (made in China) that MarineMax also has exclusive agreements with.
This is a remarkable development because it creates vertical product integration and distribution from the boatbuilder’s mold to dealer showrooms to the marina slip – all owned by MarineMax. The move could be the opening round in a new phase of the consolidation that has been going on for 20 years in the U.S. marine industry.
In case you’re not paying attention, in the last 52 weeks, MarineMax stock has gone up more than 500% from $12.92 to a high of $63.99, yet the company has a forward P/E ratio of about 10. More...
