Following the news of the acquisition by Pendennis of Devonport Yachts it has now emerged that the group is actively seeking a site as close as possible to its existing Falmouth facility to develop a second yard which will be devoted to newbuild and refit of 60m (197ft) plus sized yachts. This will take Pendennis into the larger end of the superyacht market but due to the company's current workload and the site it has in Falmouth, more room is needed.

"We have been looking for a while and have identified a few possible locations but have not chosen one yet," Toby Allies, Pendennis's sales & marketing director told SB. He is hopefull that a decision will be made by the end of this year so as the yard can be up and running as soon as possible. He continues "Pendennis is an ambitious company. The acquisition of Devonport is to complement what we do — we do not cut back. Our priority is on expanding the Pendennis workload alongside the building up Devonport."

This point was emphasised by Stephen Hill, managing director of Devonport who told SB that "In this deal were are determined to focus on refit work as well as newbuild. We will have two streams of work and revenue." He will be passing that message on to potential customers at the Abu Dhabi Yacht Show where the new Pendennis-Devonport combination will be presented.

The actual purchase of Devonport comprises its brand name, the intellectual property related to all the yachts built and refitted, and the various new designs that the company has developed over the past 18 months. The most recent of these was the 165m (551ft) design prepared by Emocean, a new Belgian design company. This has previously been covered by SB.

As to Ernesto Bertarelli purchasing a minority stake, Allies told SB "He approached the company to buy the stake. It is under 10 per cent." Hill did not gain any equity as part of the Devonport acquisition.

Between now and March the two companies will "be taking stock" to use Hill's words while they decide how to develop the new business opportunities.


Superyacht Business / David Robinson, 24 February 2010