Sunbird Yacht Co., a China-based yacht builder, has reportedly acquired a majority share of IAG Yachts.
According to a report earlier this week by Superyacht Business, an official from Sunbird confirmed that it had purchased a 55-percent stake in IAG Yachts. Despite Superyacht Business’ efforts as well as ours to find a press release or official statement from Sunbird, given that it is a publicly traded company, none has been issued thus far. We requested commentary from IAG Yachts and received the following from Trouble Wong, chief of the commercial department: “I can confirm that IAG did merger with Sunbird now. But IAG will remain under the same leadership of Michael Chang as the President and George Mei as the General Manager. IAG will keep building Luxury boat in high quality just like before and Sunbird will provide a very strong capital support to IAG for a better cash flow.”
The acquisition of IAG Yachts is the culmination of efforts that began several months ago. In late March, Sunbird stated that it planned to acquire a 75-percent stake in the yard. The purchase was to be worth up to 90 million yuan, or about $14.48 million, at the time (about $14.09 million now).
Sunbird, established 12 years ago, has two shipyards in China. One is in Yuanjiang City, with the other in Zhuhai, where it builds megayachts in fiberglass and steel. Zhuhai is also where IAG Yachts is located. Sunbird additionally has five design and sales offices across China and abroad. It has sold yachts in a variety of countries, but thus far has not sold a megayacht to an American client. IAG Yachts’ newest delivery, King Baby, is owned by an American and will premiere at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show in November.
In related news, Superyacht Business has reported that yet another Zhuhai builder, NISI Yachts (which started as Tricon Marine), were part of the deal. However, Katerina Cozias, the director of marketing and sales for NISI Yachts, tells us this is not true. “Sunbird was also interested in discussing acquiring a percentage of NISI. However, at present Tricon/NISI is still 100 percent privately owned by us,” she explains.
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