NEWS

Oyster has a new owner - creator of online casino software

Share on social media

British shipyard Oyster Yachts has been bought by Richard Hadida, founder and creative director of computer game developer Evolution Gaming.

Hadida is now in the process of forming a new management team for the luxury sailing manufacturer, which will be headed by Oyster veteran Paul Adamson.

Adamson was skipper of Eddie Jordan's Oyster 885 Lush during the 2014 Oyster World Rally. Kim Stabbs, who previously helped lead the financial recovery of another British yard - Sunseeker - while serving as chief operating officer, has also been brought on board.

«It will be tough but with some common sense and creativity we can turn this business around," says Richard Hadida. - Oyster is the Bentley of the seas, a great British brand and it will remain so».

Hadida himself is a long-time fan of Oyster yachts and regularly goes to sea on the Lush with its owner Eddie Jordan. He was informed of the liquidation of Oyster and the interim administration during one of these trips.

He used his own savings to buy the shipyard and all of its subsidiaries, including Oyster Palma and Oyster Newport in the US.
«I plan to revive all parts of the Oyster business, including brokerage and chartering. I have no intention of reselling this business, nor do I have any plan to get out of it. I am here for the long haul and see this business as my life's work," said Oyster's new owner,».

The priority of the new management will be to complete those 26 buildings that were under construction on the Oyster docks before Oyster went bankrupt.

«5 weeks ago these 26 Oyster owners were abandoned. Our main priority now is to make sure they get what they ordered with a full guarantee».

Our next challenge will be to review and optimise our manufacturing process, with the key objectives of maintaining our margins at a high level of quality.

Currently 40% of Oyster yachts are delivered to the brand's production owners.

Hadida aims to attract new buyers to the Oyster family by offering a smaller model, but with the same high quality for which the brand is renowned.

Speaking of quality, he stressed that the incident with Polina Star III, the new boat that lost its keel and sank off the Spanish coast in 2015, will never happen again. As a reminder, it is the insurance claims against Oyster that followed the loss of Polina Star III that are considered the main reason for the shipyard's bankruptcy.

The new company, acting under the brand Oyster, however, will not be held legally responsible for the loss of Polina Star III or any related lawsuits.

Last week it was revealed that Oyster's first owner Richard Matthew s, along with former Oyster aftermarket manager Sarah Harmer and former quality manager Will Taylor-Jones, have opened a service centre in Ipswich to service Oyster yachts of all sizes, ages and locations. Commenting on the news, new Oyster top manager Paul Adamson stated that the yard is open to working with anyone who is interested, but stressed that the rights to the Oyster brand, all drawings and matrixes are owned by Richard Hadid.

Share on social media