British luxury boat building company Oyster Yachts, established in 1973, has gone into liquidation. Based in Southampton, with a boat yard in Hoveton, Norwich and offices in Ipswich, Palma, Majorca and Newport, USA, has announced 150 job losses. The number of job losses at each site is yet to be confirmed.
The company had previously reported how 2017 closed with a record £80m+ order book, and had made a significant splash at boot Düsseldorf 2018 in January by presenting its elegant Oyster 745 (22.74 meters) as the largest sailing yacht at the show. Cruising World magazine had honored the model as ‘Best Luxury Cruiser’ in its 2018 Boat of the Year Awards.

Dutch investment firm HTP Investments are rumoured to have withdrawn financial support for the company. HTP Investments BV bought the company for just under £15 million in 2012 from Balmoral Capital.
Oyster's website also carries an announcement that it had ended 2017 with a record orders amounting to more than £80 million and had recently publicised the progress of some new moulds for their Oyster 825 and 895 models.
“It is with sincere regret that we advise that the Company has been unable to secure financial support to enable it to continue to trade at this time and it is looking at all opportunities available,” reports David Tydeman, Oyster CEO.