65m Heesen superyacht Galactica Star, has been renamed Illusion and entered charter market after her recent sale. The second largest yacht by the Dutch yard, she was sold asking $ 42 million, as a result of a notorious corruption case in Nigeria.
Custom-built by Dutch yard Heesen in 2013, the vessel seconds only to the builder’s 70-metre Galactica Super Nova in terms of LOA. She features exterior styling by Omega Architects, engineering by Van Oossanen & Associates, finished by interiors from the boards of Bannenberg & Rowell.
In April 2019, the vessel was listed for sale after a sealed bid arrangement, proposed by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Republic of Nigeria and approved by U.S. federal court. The sale process rooted back to a corruption case against two Nigerian nationals.
Allegedly, the superyacht was originally owned by Nigerian oil magnate Kolawole Aluko, who is one of four defendants accused of cheating Nigeria out of almost $1.8 billion in siphoned crude oil sales, reports The Marine News. The U.S. government also accused Aluko and another oil executive, Olajide Omokore, of laundering money in the United States and using it to acquire the yacht, among other assets.
The sale followed a court-ordered seizure of the yacht's owner's assets due to possible connections to an ongoing Nigerian oil corruption scandal, triggered by the Panama Papers investigation. The latter refers to 11.5 million leaked encrypted confidential documents that were the property of Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, exposing the network of more than 214,000 tax havens.
Illusion accommodates up to 12 guests overnight in 6 cabins, comprising a master suite, 1 VIP stateroom, and 4 double cabins. She is also capable of carrying up to 13 crew onboard to ensure a relaxed luxury yacht experience.
The most alluring feature about the vessel is what goes on below the waterline. Van Ossaanen Naval Architects successfully created a yacht that cruises 30% more efficiently than a conventional round-bilged motor yacht in this size range.
The superyacht comes with two lounge areas, one shaded and one sunny, a fully equipped sit-up bar and a large jacuzzi with sun pads aft on the sun deck. She also offers a spacious air-conditioned beach club with fully equipped bar, sauna, day head and shower. A 22-square-metre fold-out swimming platform and a 10-square-metre drop-down sea terrace to port, bring a sense of the outdoors.
Powered by 2 MTU 5,592 HP diesel engines and propelled by twin screw propellers, Illusion is capable of a top speed of 27 knots, and comfortably cruises at 24 knots. With her 90,000 fuel tanks she has a maximum range of 4,200 nautical miles at 14 knots.
The yacht used to be popular for charter among celebrities, for instance, once rented by American music industry power couple, Jay Z and Beyonce for a holiday cruise, according to WithinNigeria.
The superyacht is available for charter in the Caribbean at winter charter rate starting from $ 434,000.
Jaime Botin, part of the Satander banking dynasty, had been caught transporting a Picasso painting on his 67-meter sailing yacht Adix back in 2015. Now Madrid courts have fined the Spanish billionaire for €52.4 million and sentenced him to 18 months in prison.Botin, an active art collector, purchased Picasso's "Head of a Young Woman" painting back in 1977 for his collection. In February 2013, he tried to sell the painting at a Christies' auction in London but the art work couldn't leave Spain at their culture ministry's decision.Spain has some of the strictest laws when it comes to national heritage. According to them, any work of art over 100 years old that is considered culturally important in the view of their culture ministry can be deemed a national treasure, requiring its owner to get a permit in order to transport it out of Spain. Botin's permit was denied back in 2012.In 2015, Botin, according to Bloomberg, had his driver transport the painting from his Madrid home to Valencia where his 67-meter sailing yacht Adix was docked. When setting sail in June 2015, her captain didn't include the artwork on the list of onboard items. Soon after it set sail for Corsica, from where Botin had chartered a jet to ferry it to Geneva where he intended to keep it according to the publication.Tipped off that Botin's permit for the export of the Picasso hadn't gone through earlier, they inspected the yacht and found the painting in the captain's cabin.Adix itself is currently in Australia, finishing up her refit programme at the yard Brisbane. The yacht is set to remain in the South Pacific up to the America's Cup in Auckland in 2021. The painting found onboard the yacht in 2015 had an estimated value of $27 million, with experts saying it could now be even more. It has since become the property of the Spanish State.With a net worth valued by Forbes at $1.7 billion, Jaime Botin is the largest shareholder of Spanish bank Bankinter and a member of Spain's most prominent banking families. His great grandfather had founded Spain's largest bank, Santander.
January 18, 2020
Richard Matthews, original founder of Oyster Yachts, has returned to its board as a non-executive director. This follows Richard Hadida buying the company in 2018. Matthews had founded the sailing yacht manufacturer back in 1973.Oyster Yachts built its first 32ft sailing boat in 1973. From there it gradually extended its range of sailing yachts finding its sweet spot in 56ft to 125ft units designed by Robert Humphreys. In 2008 the company was sold to private equity firm Balmoral Capital for £70 million, before the firm disposed of it to HTP Investments for £15 million in 2012.Following a failure of the internal hull structure on Polina Star III, an Oyster 825 model, which led to the yacht sinking in 2015. This led to a recall of 4 other units and a dent in the builder's cash flow despite a £83 million order book in 2017. The following year, the company went into administration, before being purchased by Richard Hadida.Hadida is mostly known for founding Evolution Gaming, a company that powers most online casino games and currently trades on the Swedish stock market with a market cap of near €5 billion. His fried, yacht owner and automotive mogul Eddie Jordan was formerly also involved in the takeover bid with Oyster but later backed out."It is hugely important to me personally that the founder of the brand [Richard Matthews] I hold so close to my heart has given it his seal of approval by joining our board." Hadida explained. "Having restored the company to its former glory with the support of a fantastic team – from talented craftsmen to dedicated management – this feels like confirmation that Oyster is once again synonymous with quality and excellence, just as it was when Richard founded it back in 1973".
January 18, 2020
Turkish shipyard Numarine has announced the sale of 5 yachts from its XP series, bringing the total in the series up to 10. Four of these will be 26-meters in length and one 32-meters."These achievements indicate the relevance and popularity of the series" commented Numarine founder Omer Malaz. "We are very pleased that five more international customers will be able to experience what high quality and impeccable Numarine style are."All built on the same platform with identical layouts, the four 26XP yachts will feature a spacious flybridge, a main salon on the main deck and 4 guest cabins on the lower deck. Interior designs and finishes will be customised to the owner's tastes.The only substantial difference between the units will be the hulls, with one of them being semi-displacement with MAN engines of 1,200hp each, whilst the remaining ones will be displacement units with engines of 560-800hp each also manufactured by MAN.The 26XP and 32XP series were both designed by Can Yalman with naval architecture by Umberto Tagliavini. The Numarine 32XP model was being marketed at just under €9.3 million whilst the 26XP was asking just over €3.8 million.
January 17, 2020
Italian shipyard Sanlorenzo has confirmed the launched of its 4th 52-meter yacht, Lady Lena. Purchased by her Russian owner in 2018, she is set to be delivered in late 2020. Another four units of the Steel 52 series are currently under construction at the yard.Coming in at 499 gross tons, the 52 Steel was formerly the flagship series of Sanlorenzo before the introduction of larger models to the mix. Designed by Mauro Micheli from Officina Italiana Design, the first unit launched was Seven Sins.Amongst Lady Lena key features, similarly to her sisterships, is a 94-square-meter beach club which features two fold-out platforms on both sides of the yacht. A lounge area is located directly underneath a pool with a glass bottom aft of the main deck. Sistership Seven SinsPowered by twin Caterpillar engines, Lady Lena will reach a top speed of 17 knots and cruise at 15 knots. At an economical speed of 11 knots, she will be able to cross the Atlantic with a 4,000 nm max range.One of the world's largest yacht shipyards, Sanlorenzo went public in December 2019 at a market cap of just over €550 million on the Italian stock exchange. In 2018, the group posted revenues of €327 million, a third of which came from its superyacht division.
January 17, 2020
In November 2019, Italian superyacht manufacturer Cantiere delle Marche has announced the recent sale of a 35-meter explorer superyacht. The Second 35 Meter Explorer Superyacht MG115 was sold to an Asian owner on December 24th.The project has a naval architecture, which was developed on its own in collaboration with long-time partner Cantiere delle Marche Hydro Tec, and has the exterior design of the famous Florentine designer Francesco Pashkovsky. All models in the MG line have similar styles that are characterized by bold masculine lines that have become associated with vessels that fall under the designation "explorer."Designed to travel to the most remote and secluded areas of the globe, the MG 115 is an elegant yet robust, reliable, environmentally friendly long range research vessel.Despite the fact that the MG115 is relatively compact, it is able to accommodate the spaces and luxurious amenities that can be expected from a large yacht. “We don’t produce ‘white yachts’ that look like explores just to follow a trend,” says Buonpensiere. “Throughout the years, we have showed the market that we are able to build true explorers that have both elegance and style of a white yacht. The solutions we have fielded to make the MG line meet all these requirements are once again driving CdM’s explorer yachts forward.”The yacht, located on four decks, will have a steel hull and an aluminum superstructure with spacious recreation areas, recreation and dining areas.The vessel will accommodate up to 10 guests, which will be served by six crew members. Accommodation on board a ship with full displacement in five suits; two VIPs and two twins on the lower deck and a master suite in front of the main deck. In accordance with modern trends, special emphasis was placed on large windows, natural light, outdoor areas and proximity to the ocean. However, only limited parts are available at this stage.Two 533 kW engines each provide a maximum speed of 13.5 knots and a flight range of more than 5000 nautical miles.
January 13, 2020