A Malta-based firm is the new owner of the bankrupt Privilege Yard in Civitavecchia, Italy, outside of Rome. This follows several failed auctions over the past year. The same company previously bought the unfinished megayacht on site.
The new owner is Royalton Investment, a holding company with a variety of assets, including some in yachting. In fact, it operates in yachting via SSH Maritime, handling sales, charter, refits, new builds, and management. The 272-foot (83-meter) O’Mega is among the megayachts it oversees.
A few Italian newspapers have confirmed the sale. While none report the purchase price, according to the yachting-industry magazine Superyacht News, it’s €6.016 million (approximately $6.083 million at press time). This winning bid is lower than the threshold set earlier this year. In fact, in early April, a Civitavecchia bankruptcy court set an opening bid of €9.4 million (approximately $11.6 million at that time). That auction failed to find a buyer, however. Previous auctions, with higher minimum bids, failed, too, dating back to 2015, when a court declared Privilege Yard bankrupt.
According to CivOnline.it, the website of a daily regional newspaper, Royalton Investment signed final paperwork on October 22. The paper quotes Antonio Cozzolino, Civitavecchia’s mayor, as saying he looks forward to meeting with the new owners. Cozzolino adds that he particularly wishes to learn their plans pertaining to the former Privilege workers, “a sector on which the working world of Civitavecchia can expand with positive repercussions.”
What makes Royalton Investment more noteworthy is that it isn’t just the owner of Privilege Yard. It also acquired the megayacht long in build there, P430 (at top and above), several months ago. Also known as Privilege One, the 417-foot (127-meter) megayacht was the shipyard’s first contract. Construction started in 2008, anticipated for completion in 2012. But, that didn’t happen. In fact, as of 2014, when the photo at top was taken, P430 was just only about 60 percent finished.
Antonio Cozzolino tells CivOnline.it that Royalton Investment’s lawyer assured him P430 would be finished, within one year.
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