Half-price sale: Maltese court sells seized superyacht for €150m

A Maltese judge has approved the sale of superyacht Golden Odyssey for €150m ($153m) after it was seized following the owner’s failure to make finance payments.

Golden Odyssey, a 123m (403ft) Lurssen-built vessel, was confiscated following the outstanding debts of a €116m loan by the yacht owner, Karl Marine. The Bermuda-based company, secured the loan in 2013, using the yacht as collateral. The proceeds of the sale will go to lender, Deutsche Bank Luxembourg.

According to Rory Jackson, head of superyachts at VesselsValue, the yacht is worth €343m.

The court approved the sale of the superyacht with Dr Ann Fenech, partner at Fenech & Fenech Advocates, acting on behalf of Deutsche Bank.

“It is believed that this is the highest price ever fetched for a yacht sold in a judicial sale in Malta,” she told Superyacht Investor.

The yacht is being sold to court-approved buyer, East Thrive Peace. The finalisation of the sale is set to take place tomorrow (October 20th).

The sale takes place against the background of important international development. The Convention on the international effects of judicial sales, which was approved by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) earlier this year, is about to be adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations, said Fenech.

“The entire raison d’etre [reason for being] of the convention is to ensure that when a vessel is purchased free and unencumbered in a judicial sale, that free title in the hands of the buyer is given effect all over the world,” explained Fenech.

The draft convention, coordinated by Fenech, was provided by Comité Maritime International (CMI) and has been deliberated by working group V1 of UNCITRAL since May 2018.