Seacoast Capital, a lower middle market non-control growth capital investor, announced its $9.5 million subordinated debt with warrants and common stock investment in The Wing Group (Wing). Founded in 1997, and based in Lafayette, California, Wing manufactures high-performance collars for rigid hull inflatable boats and builds inflatable watercraft designed to perform in the most challenging marine environments. Seacoast’s investment was used to assist Wing in its acquisition of Mustang Survival.
For the last two decades, Wing has been a pioneer in the use of polyurethane coated fabric and thermo-welded air-holding seams used for commercial, professional, recreational, and military marine equipment. As a result, the Company has attracted the U.S. Department of Defense and some of the most demanding commercial marine operators around the world as customers. Wing’s success has allowed the Company to expand into Europe through its acquisition of Henshaw Inflatables and to extend product lines into life rafts through its acquisition of the Patten Company. By acquiring Mustang, Wing continues extending product lines into mission critical safety products and survival gear designed for elite professional, recreational, and government users.
“Seacoast Capital’s investment in Wing is consistent with our focus on highly differentiated product and service companies with experienced management teams fully committed to the future growth of the business,” said Jeff Holland, a Partner at Seacoast. “In addition, the Wing and Mustang brands are well recognized globally as providers of the highest quality marine inflatable products and components by the most demanding customers. Wing is an exciting Company, and an exciting opportunity for Seacoast.”
Andrew Branagh, CEO of Wing, stated “We had known Seacoast Capital and its principals for some time and thought of them first when our need for growth capital arose. Along the way, they kept their word and met our timeline for their diligence and investment. We look forward to working with them in the years to come.” Added Mark French, Wing CFO, “The Seacoast team was a pleasure to work with from start to finish. Our capital structure was an iterative process, and their creativity and flexibility helped us to quickly get to the finish line to complete the Mustang acquisition.”