The world’s biggest diver-training agency PADI has been sold again – for a reported US $700 million. It has gone to a consortium of wealthy families and endowments, said to include marine conservationists, called Mandarinfish Holding.
The current owner, US private-equity company Providence Equity Partners LLC, had initially looked to raise $1 billion from the sale.
Providence bought the California-based Professional Association of Diving Instructors in 2015 from another private-equity firm, Lincolnshire Management, which had itself owned PADI for only three years. The agency has now been owned by four private-equity companies.
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Providence Equity helped PADI to expand in Asia and upgrade its e-commerce system before putting it back on sale, and despite the shortfall in the price it says that it still managed to triple its investment.
PADI claims to have issued more than 25 million certifications in its 50-plus years of existence. It has 6400 dive-centres and resorts, some 133,000 affiliated instructors and an international staff of around 400.
Divernet – The Biggest Online Resource for Scuba Divers
23-Mar-17
