Stemming from the 2008 sale of his superyacht, Russian billionaire and former politician Boris Berezovsky has been ordered by a British court to pay brokers Edmiston & Company a £6m ($9m) sales commission.

Berezovsky hired the brokerage firm to sell the 110m (361ft) Darius — while she was still under construction at Lόrssen — because of financial difficulties.

According the Telegraph newspaper, Berezovsky's lawyer, Justice Field, revealed in court that his client "did not have the ready means to pay the shipbuilding contract installments, and if he failed to pay any of them by the due date, he stood to lose a substantial part of his investment in the yacht." The sale of the superyacht was necessary to secure the €118m ($153m) Berezovsky had already spent on the project, Field explained.

Nicholas Edmiston — founder of Edmiston & Company — marketed the yacht to a few interested parties before Darius was finally sold to the Al Futtaim family of the United Arab Emirates in October 2008.

Berezovsky, however, disputed Edmiston's claim to the sales commission. In court, Field stated that Merle Wood (president of Merle Wood & Associates) made introductions between Edmiston & Company and the Al Futtaim family's captain — and that Edmiston, therefore, should not be paid. Berezovsky told the court that Edmiston hadn't been an "effective cause" of the sale.

The judge, though, ruled against Berezovsky stating that while Wood's role was "an extremely valuable one," Edmiston had displayed "considerable skill and expertise" in reaching out to his network.

Darius — now Radiant — was finally delivered to the Al Futtaim family earlier this year.


Superyacht Business, 28 July 2010