Puerto Banus Sale Nears Completion in Marbella Puerto Banus is in the final stages of selling a stake to a strategic partner, reportedly a 150 million euro deal, as the Marbella marina prepares to expand across Europe. Puerto Banus, the most famous marina on the Costa del Sol, is in the final stages of selling a stake in its business to a strategic partner, in what would be the biggest change of ownership at the port in more than four decades. The operation, reported this week, would end the exclusive control that the Vidiella family has held over the Marbella landmark since 1983 and open a new chapter of expansion across Europe, with the port positioned as the flagship brand of a much larger network of marinas. Financial media has pointed to a British investor, while a national business daily has named the fund Intermediate Capital Group and put a figure of around 150 million euros on the deal, including earn-outs. An earn-out is a common clause in this kind of sale: part of the price is deferred and only paid if the business reaches certain performance targets in the years ahead. Sources at Puerto Banus have been more cautious about the details. The deal is at an advanced stage, they acknowledge, but it has not yet been finalised, which means the partner that is finally announced, and the exact terms of the agreement, need not necessarily match the figures currently circulating in the press. Whatever the final shape of the operation, the appeal of the asset is easy to understand. Puerto Banus operates under a 99-year concession for the construction and running of the port, granted to Jose Banus back in 1967 and running until 2066. The marina offers 915 berths and 42 commercial premises, and while the company that runs the port reported a turnover of around 20 million euros last year, with gross profits of ten million, the commercial activity generated in and around the marina has been estimated at more than 300 million euros a year. The reported plan is ambitious. The aim is to double the business within four or five years, to manage five marinas by 2030 and as many as fifteen by 2035, using the Marbella port as the flagship brand and asset through which to drive that growth. The timing is no coincidence. The marina sector is consolidating fast, and the money chasing it is increasingly institutional. A giant American fund became the world's largest marina operator when it bought a network of 138 ports in the United States and Puerto Rico last year, while a French infrastructure fund picked up a network of 28 marinas in nine countries for more than a billion euros in July. What is drawing investors to this market is the mix that Puerto Banus already has in place: a shortage of moorings, particularly for yachts and superyachts, recurring revenue from long-term clients, sustained demand, concessions that stretch decades into the future and plenty of room to professionalise the management of assets that have traditionally been run by families. For Marbella, the arrival of a global financial backer would be significant well beyond the port gates. Puerto Banus is one of the engines of the town's luxury tourism economy, a brand recognised far beyond Spain, and a key employer in the high season. A partner with capital to invest could accelerate plans to modernise facilities, extend the commercial offer and keep the marina competitive against newer destinations in the Mediterranean. It would also fit the wider direction of travel on the Costa del Sol, where private capital has been flowing into hotels, beach clubs and residential projects over the last few years. The competition for wealthy visitors is now international, and marinas are a central part of that pitch. For now, though, nothing is signed. The port itself has asked for patience, and anyone following the story should expect the final announcement to clarify three things above all: who the partner really is, how much of the business changes hands, and what the earn-out targets mean for the port's management in the short term. What is already clear is the direction. After more than forty years in the hands of one family, Puerto Banus is preparing to become the flagship of a European marina group, and the deal that sets that in motion looks close to done.