Practical Boat Owner - July 2018

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Uncertainty as Bavaria

goes into administration

O

ne of Europe’s

biggest boatbuilders,

Bavaria Yachtbau, is

looking for new investors after

going into administration.

The self-administration

move by the German yacht

builder means the

management team will

remain in full operational

control of the fi rm while the

business is reorganised.

It has also announced that

yacht building at its factory

in Giebelstadt, and delivery

of boats, is secure until

June this year.

The fi rm’s 600 workers are

being kept updated, and all

wages and salaries between

April and June 2018 will be

paid under insolvency

compensation.

The announcement, which

sent shockwaves among

owners and the marine

industry, will not affect the

French subsidiary, Bavaria

Catamarans SAS, formed after

Bavaria bought Nautitech

Catamarans in 2014.

Investor search

In a statement released on 24

April, Bavaria Yachts said the

German shipyard operations

would continue ‘seamlessly

over the next few months’.

‘The delivery season is

currently in full swing, so it

will be possible to process a

large order backlog over the

coming months,’ it added,

stating, ‘The top priority is

now to search for an

investor’.

Bavaria’s existing executive

management is being

expanded to include Dr.

Tobias Brinkmann, a specialist

insolvency lawyer, who has

extensive experience of

reorganising shipyards.

The previous chief executive

offi cer, Lutz Henkel, who

joined in 2015, has already

left. Under his management,

new motor-yachts like the

Bavaria R-line were

developed and the Italian

designer Maurizio Cossutti

created the large Bavaria C

sailing yacht. She was

introduced in 2017 as the fi rst

of a new generation of

cruisers, called C-Line, that

now also includes the Bavaria

C45, C50 and C65. The

Bavaria C65 fl agship was

unveiled in January 2018.

“In the current situation, we

will continue to provide our

customers with the

customary high quality,”

stressed Bavaria’s chief

operating offi cer, Erik Appel.

“We have many years of

experience building

high-quality yachts and are

industry leaders in technology

in many areas,” he added.

In a statement, Nautitech,

which is based in Rochefort,

France, said that while Bavaria

had begun the purchase of

the catamaran builder

two-and-a-half years ago, it

was ‘still an independent

French company with its own

employees, suppliers and

bank accounts’.

‘The well managed and

profi table catamaran

business is already attracting

interest from potential

buyers. Whilst we understand

that both the catamaran

division and the struggling

German operation will

probably soon be under new

ownership, the operation of

the catamaran business is

completely unaffected by the

situation in Germany,’

stressed Nautitech.

Bavaria Yachts, which

recently celebrated its 40th

anniversary, was sold by its

founders to the private equity

group Bain Capital in June

2007 for around r1.1 billion.

The American investment

fi rms, Oaktree Capital and

Anchorage Capital Group

then became creditors

following the fi nancial crisis in

2008. As part of restructuring,
      Oaktree and Anchorage
      waived a substantial majority
      of their loans and became
      majority shareholders,
      investing ‘signifi cant
      resource’.
      ‘Unfortunately, Bavaria
      Yachtbau was unable to
      recover operational
      profi tability,’ said a
      spokesman for Oaktree
      and Anchorage.

Bavaria will continue production

and deliveries until June

Bavaria recently marked its 40th anniversary