Since last April, negotiations have been taking place between the Chinese owner of the shipyard and new investors. With the closing operations now finalized, the sale is now official.

It's the end of a bad financial adventure for the Chinese group Dalian Wanda (tourism, hotels, cinema...), which has finally sold the British shipyard Sunseeker , acquired in 2013 from FL Partners, for the princely sum of 380 million euros.

Negotiations began in 2023.

Suffice it to say that the Chinese will not recoup his investment, as the sale price appears to be significantly lower than the purchase price, and this return to yachting will undoubtedly leave him with a bitter taste, as is customary for some investors unfamiliar with the specifics of the sector.

The purchaser of the Poole-based British shipyard is the American investment fund Lionheart Capital (Miami), already owner of the offshore yacht builder Cigarette Racing, associated with the Italian fund Orienta Capital Partners, whose two of its six partners, Giancarlo Galeone and Augusto Balestra, are former Ferretti executives.

Giancarlo Galeone, who was CEO of Ferretti from 1995 to 2006, becomes Chairman of the Board of Sunseeker, alongsideAndrea Frabetti, Sunseeker's current CEO.

Andrea Frabetti is no stranger to the Ferretti Group, where he was Vice President and Director of Design and Product Development for 25 years, until 2015.

According to the figures released at the time of the takeover, Sunseeker will generate sales of 330 million euros in 2024, compared with 319 in 2023 and 264 in 2022.

Its order book would total 615 million euros.

Sunseeker markets 29 yacht models, ranging from 38 to 131 feet, in 7 different ranges: Performance, Predator, Yacht, Sport Yacht, Manhattan, Ocean and Superyacht.