Twisted Marine makes a splash with purchase of its second marine engineering business

Back row (left to right): Carl Davey, Chris Bailey, Andy Cabell - Front Row (left to right): Joe Bullen, Jake Cronk, Roz Swaffer © Twisted Marine

Twisted Marine, sister company to North Yorkshire-based Twisted Automotive, is expanding its capabilities and resources after a deal to acquire Brighton-based marine engineering business, West Marine Services Limited.

West Marine, which turns over circa £700,000 and provides powerboat service, repair and supply services, will join the Twisted Marine group of companies and continue to scale its operations as part of the larger business.

Twisted Marine said the acquisition would support its plans to grow its market presence in the marine sector and cement its growing reputation for building and enhancing power boats based on solid marine engineering foundations.

West Marine is an authorised dealer for Volvo Penta, Mercury Marine and Yanmar and the business will strengthen Twisted Marine's dealership links to support customers across the whole of the south coast.

Based in a 1900 sq. ft facility in a prime location on the Brighton Marina Village, West Marine was founded in 2005 and has developed a reputation as a one-stop shop for all types of leisure craft, from small tenders to large yachts. The business's current owner, Mike West, will exit the business.

Twisted founder Charles Fawcett says: "There are some excellent synergies between our two marine engineering businesses, which together will provide us with a wider client base and expanded capabilities across the south coast. The cultures within the two organisations are remarkably similar, which will ensure a smooth integration and enable us to quickly get on with scaling Twisted Marine further.

"West Marine Services is a second-generation engineering company, with significant engineering knowledge to bring to the Marine Services Group of the future. We very much look forward to welcoming the West Marine team to Twisted, and working together with them to create a centre of marine engineering excellence, firmly putting Twisted Marine on the map as a household name in the marine industry."

Twisted entered the marine market in November 2020 when Fawcett acquired Devon-based SMS (Salcombe) Limited for an undisclosed sum and rebranded it as Salcombe Marine Services. Twisted Marine is currently reviewing a number of additional acquisitions to bolster its growth plans.

Twisted Marine is run by Fawcett and MD Jake Cronk, a fully qualified marine engineer and member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineer who holds a master's degree in mechanical engineering. He joined the business following a successful career with the Mercedes AMG Formula 1 and Formula E teams.