Shard Credit Partners’ Investee Company Awarded a King’s Award for Enterprise.

8 May 2024

An investee company of Shard Credit Partners Direct Lending Fund I, JST Floating Piers Ltd (“JST”), based in Ayrshire, Scotland, has been honoured with a King’s Award for Enterprise for Innovation.

JST is one of 252 organisations nationally to be recognised with a prestigious King’s Award for Enterprise, and one of only 59 UK companies recognised for its excellence in Innovation.

Employing 63 people, JST Services (Scotland) Ltd was founded in 1993, and a separate Floating Piers division was established in 2007.

JST is a logistics company active in the port services sector, providing operations throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland.  The company is particularly active in delivering asset-based logistic solutions to the forest sector. JST’s innovative mobile Floating Piers have made it possible for large capacity cargo ships to berth directly adjacent to remote forests. With a network of three Floating Piers, JST’s technology has created economies of scale that enable Scottish logs to move to from estates in the remote Highlands to markets in the Central Belt, Southern Ireland, and South Wales.

JST’s Floating Piers are part of the broader drive towards Net Zero, with each cargo ship loaded at one of the piers removing some 200 HGV truck journeys from Scotland’s rural roads.

Richard Jennings, Managing Director of JST Services Group, said, “As a service business, receiving the Kings Award for Innovation is an absolute honour for the company and a huge testament to our employees, partners and customers.”

A Royal reception will be held for award recipients during the summer of 2024.

The King’s Awards for Enterprise, previously known as The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise, was renamed last year to reflect His Majesty The King’s desire to continue the legacy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth by recognising outstanding UK businesses. The Awards programme, now in its 58th year, is the most prestigious business award in the UK. Successful companies can use the esteemed King’s Awards Emblem for the next five years.

Visit https://www.gov.uk/kings-awards-for-enterprise for more information.

 

 

About Shard Credit Partners:

Shard Credit Partners is an alternative investment fund manager focused on high cash yielding private credit strategies in the UK lower mid-market.  Current assets under management is circa £200 million.  Its funds seek to generate superior risk-adjusted returns from conservatively structured senior secured credit investments with meaningful equity upside. Fund strategies include corporate direct lending, technology venture financing and international trade finance.

Shard Credit Partners successfully completed eleven primary investments and around thirty bolt-on acquisitions from its debut direct lending fund Shard Credit Partners Fund I, which held a first close in October 2017 at £90.2 million.  Shard Credit Partners plans to hold a first close on its second vintage UK lower mid-market direct lending fund with a target of £100 million during Q4 2024.

Shard Credit Partners invests in small to medium sized businesses with strong management teams, supporting them by providing transformative growth capital and event driven financing in support of innovation, growth and expansion.  The Fund invests in businesses across all sectors and throughout the UK.  The firm has a strong ESG focus; in particular, it is a strong supporter of female entrepreneurs and firms with meaningful female leadership, ownership and senior management.

Shard Credit Partners Ltd is an Appointed Representative of Shard Capital AIFM LLP, authorised and regulated by the FCA (FRN 615463).

Contact details:

Investor relations:   IR@shardcreditpartners.com Business:    info@shardcreditpartners.com Website:    www.shardcreditpartners.com