The main facility of the bankrupt Italian shipyard Privilege Yachts has been put up for auction, while its CEO has been under house arrest for more than 18 months for financial fraud.
The lot includes 11 buildings with a total area of 102,000 square meters and 24,500 square meters of solar panels. The court set a starting price of €9,400,000 for it. The new owner of the facility will be determined on April 19 through a private auction.
The unfinished hull of the 127-metre motorboat Project P430, one of the largest yacht projects in the world, will remain on the site. However, it will be subject to special terms of ownership for the next 12 months.
Privilege Yachts was founded in 2006. The yard's stumbling block was the 127m superyacht Privilege One, the contract for which was signed two years later. Construction was financed by a consortium of five Italian banks.
Production was halted in 2012 when one of the sponsors, Banca Etruria, withdrew its money from the project. In 2014, CEO Mario La Via said he had found the funds to continue work and promised to launch the boat by the end of the year. But he did not keep his promise.
The company was declared bankrupt in 2015. Its debt at the time was €210 million. At the same time, 76-year-old Mario La Via applied for a €100 million loan, allegedly for the construction of Privilege One, forgetting to mention the liquidation process of the company.
The unfinished yacht Privilege One is being offered for sale through the brokerage company Bluewater for € 399 000 000. The yard tried to go under the hammer in 2015, but no buyer was found at the time.
To avoid confusion: the Italian shipyard Privilege Yachts and the French catamaran manufacturer Privilege Marine are two completely different companies.
Two months ago, also predominantly due to problems with one of its boats , the British shipyard Oyster Yachts went bankrupt, but it quickly found a new owner among 45 willing buyers.
