Breaking news comes that Mohamed al Barwani, owner of the Dutch shipyard Oceanco, has purchased a controlling stake in the Turkish yard Proteksan following the passing of Proteksan co-founder, Hayati Kamhi, in June 2012. A long enthusiast of the yard, according to Proteksan CEO Mehmet Karabeyoglu, Al Barwani, whose net worth is valued at 1.2B dollars, has made his money in oil in Oman before buying superyacht yard Oceanco in 2010 from Greek shipping magnate Theodore Angelopoulos for an undisclosed amount.
First company to build spa pools on superyachts, Oceanco has much benefited from the hands-on approach of Al Barnawi delivering the beautiful Nirvana for Russian billionaire Potanin as well as expanding its facility to be able to construct yachts up to 160 meters. Al Barwani's purchase of the controlling stake in Proteksan does not come as much of a surprise since his previous statements in interviews that he believed future competitors in the large yacht market could be in Turkey.
It is unclear whether the acquisition of the Turkish yard by Al Barwani was an effort to increase his range of yachts he had to offer to potential clients, since Oceanco specialized in 80m+ superyachts. Or if his move is a clue of horizontal integration having seen Proteksan as a potential rival in the megayacht industry. Indeed, in the past few years, Proteksan had clearly stated their intentions of competing in the large yacht industry having started to deliver boats in excess of 70 meters such as the 70.5m Talisman C in 2011 or the 72.6m Vicky in 2012.