Sunseeker Sold to Chinese Investor

A Chinese property developer buys a hotel and a yacht manufacturer? Why am I not surprised. If you can build buildings and run hotels it only stands to reason that you know how to build yachts. It's moments like these that make me so glad to be on my way out of the business instead of into it. So I guess us yanks won't have to figure out what a Hob is anymore.

Thats a big trend in Europe. Large investors from the Middle East used to hold big shares in the industry and property in Europe, especially in England. London looked to me sometimes, like being owned by the Arabs.

But they are leaving for some reason. Katar sold their last share in the Porsche Holding recently, Kuwait is reducing its investment in Mercedes. And China is on shopping tour. More and more well known companies come under Chinese control. The Volvo Car Group, the Ferreti Group and many more. The local government of Hamburg had to step in with hundreds of million Euros, to prevent the Hapag-Lloyd AG, to come under Chinese control. And it will get worse. Their pocket is filled with so much money, they could buy most of Europe. And big investors from India are also on shopping tour. One day, they own us.

One day? China owns us now.

Yachts & balls

I am guessing you may have just about started in the business when a certain company known for making bowling equipment bought numerous boat & yacht manufacturers. ?

And another bought Harley Davidson. Great for bottom lines; lousy for quality builds. Never bought either from either and never would. I'd rather boats and bikes from craftsmen rather than bankers. Nobody got rich, but people answered the phones and jump to action because their reputations were on the line.

Yachts

Handbag (purse) maker and a boat builder is another one, the list goes on

Sorry, but I grew up in the world of "every man to his trade" and I'll gladly die in that world. Whenever I go outside my trade I never charge and I've never made making money my priority. Keeps me poor but happy and liking myself.

Princess yachts was bought by LMVH, a french luxury company with no yachting expirience and no reaction here. So I do not understand the fuss right now... just because it is a chinese group?

Perhaps some of you have a wrong impression of China but that is politics..

They sure do a beautiful interior on the new Princess.......unfortunately the materials they use are more suited to purses than a saltwater environment.

Well, probably... Amazing how many people forget that China is a communist dictatorship with a lengthy record of human right abuse, police state tactics, ethnic cleansing and genocide.

They have been smart enough to cover all this with a thin layer of economic freedom to attract business and grow their economy so they can develop their military.

Bankers vs Builders...

Mr. Jianlin, purchased Sunseeker from investment bankers. Braithwaite & company remain onboard. Same management, bigger wallet.

And yes, LVMH makes champagne, Princess Yachts, purses & Feadships. LVMH bought Royal Van Lent in 2008.

Fairline was purchased by Better Capital, Ltd. and the Royal Bank of Scotland in July 2011.

It doesn't always workout though... in 2010 China’s Nautic Star Marine bought CNL (Admiral) at auction for €13.1... yet failed to pay.

It's a business of building. Unfortunately it's also a business of finance. I would prefer to have a luxury goods merchant, rather than a banker, overseeing quality.

When Sunseeker was in financial troubles for low cash flow, big investments, several order cancellations, some dealer bankruptcy, etc...., FL Partners from Ireland came to take a majority part of the company, leaving the Braithwaite family in only representative positions, not with full control of the shipyard.

FL Partners is an investment company, and once they have see the reality of the business today.... They just have been looking to find a buyer to get some profit from their investment....

Once a shipyard gets into hands of that kind of investment companies (not related to this world), the brand start to jump from hand to hand, and every new owner only wants to get his profit, they don't want to build boats....

Shame and pity for what has happened to Sunseeker in the last years...

I agree with most of what has gone on in this thread but this is a simple by product of capitalism. Mass production, volume and making money is what keeps our economy growing. This sort of thing is happening in many different sectors not only boat building.

Now days people lease cars for 3 years and throw them out for new. Look at the computers being made now days. Not designed to last more then 3 years.

The fact is that most boaters dont know the technical details of a quality boat and dont care. (They also dont keep them long enough for it to make a difference.) For the few (myself included) who care, there will always be a small market for high performance high quality boats. (Viking, Jarret Bay, nordhavn, northern etc.)

Will there? I can think of several notable names that would have been on your list not long ago but aren't.

So long as there are people like us who demand quality, there will be someone there to capitalize on it. Everything just has to balance out which is what we are seeing now.

But was sunseeker ever a top quality manufacturer?

I normally stay out of politics, like all of us do on this forum , but one statement has to be made.

We can not blame the Chinese or India for shopping the assets of other countrys. If your pocket is filled with such an amout of money, you have to invest it. And they believe, investing in the industries of western countries is profitable. I do not think that imperialism is their sole motivation.

It is the fault of our governments to allow strategic investors to buy and sell shares of our companies without any rules and regs and this tax free . Sorry, but governance for sustainable economic activity has a different meaning to me. Turbo capitalism will kill our societies. The Wall Street needs rules, gentleman, period!

I think so. All of the good custom SF manufacturers I know of are thriving. Merritt's had 4 >70' SF builds going in various stages of completion when I was there a week ago that I saw, maybe more in the hull building shed going, Jim Smith and ACY are both building their largest SF yet. The custom SF builders that are building a top notch quality product are busy and of course do not build on price.......