Maven leads £825,000 investment in Parsons Containers

Maven through its management of the Finance Durham and North East Development Capital Fund (NEDCF), supported by the European Regional Development Fund, has provided £825,000 of funding to independent shipping container supplier, Parsons Containers. The funds have invested £500,000 and £325,000 respectively, which will support the company’s growth plans, enhancing its digital presence online and help the business to open four new sites for its self-storage brand, ‘U Hold the Key’, in the next 12 months.

A long-established supplier of shipping containers for all applications by sale and hire throughout the UK, Parsons has a growing reputation in industry. The company is one of the UK’s largest multi-discipline shipping container businesses, operating on multiple sites, including a strong presence in the North East.

Parsons’ “U Hold the Key” brand, one of the earliest container self-storage businesses in the UK, supplies container self-storage services for domestic and commercial use to small businesses and customers requiring flexible storage. With nine UK sites using over 1000 stores, U Hold the Key has innovated to ensure the systems of the business are local, inexpensive, easy to use and secure.

Under the “Parsons Containers” and “ContainerContainer” brands, the company supplies shipping containers to industries for shipping and freight and for applications including accommodation and storage. These include the self-storage industry, construction, off-shore, local government, schools and catering. 

Ean Parsons, Founder and Managing Director, has worked in the shipping container industry since 1984 and has been instrumental in the historic development of the business, running it since inception in 2000. 

Ean Parsons, Managing Director of Parson Containers, said “I am delighted with the investment by Maven, especially as it involves both The Finance Durham Fund and North East Development Fund.  We are proud to be a North East business, rooted in County Durham and with a loyal and skilled local workforce.  With that platform, we have established a growing national customer base and a strong demand for our products and services.  I am pleased that Maven is demonstrating confidence in the business with this investment.  It will enable us to take advantage of existing opportunities and I am sure that we will repay this faith by strengthening our business in Durham and the North East.”

Michael Vassallo, Investment Director at Maven, said, “Parsons is an established and reputable business with a growing share of the UK shipping container market. Ean is an ambitious and dedicated Director who has grown the business substantially in the last 18 years and we are delighted to provide funding at this stage in the company’s development.

“The joint investment between the two funds Maven manages in the region, the Finance Durham Fund and the North East Development Capital Fund, is a fantastic example of investors in the North East working together to provide a local business with a substantial funding package to enable it to grow.”

NEDCF is part of the £120m North East investment programme is available to SMEs across Durham, Northumberland and Tyne and Wear. The Fund can invest up to £2 million to support established businesses via debt finance, mezzanine loans or equity investment to help fulfil their growth potential.