Stewart Dick and Gillian Keeler, directors of Private Client
Finance at Arbuthnot Banking Group, claim to have “more or less”
invented superyacht financing in about 1997, when they worked at
the Ansbacher Banking Group.
“The first one we financed was 50 feet – which seemed
enormous at the time, but is not uncommon nowadays,” Dick
recalls.
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Arbuthnot finances around 65 per cent loan-to-value,
predominantly on a marine mortgage with personal guarantees. “We
are private bankers,” Dick stresses, “so we need high-net-worth
customers on our books.”
Dealing with superyachts only,Arbuthnot sources leads from law
firms, marine surveyors, some boat yards and yacht management
companies.
“Also,” Dick explains, “from our bank and other banks. Some
lenders will fund only UK-registered vessels, but we take a
pragmatic approach and there is virtually no nationality with whom
we will not deal. Our client base is mainly European, but also
includes those from the US, South America and the Middle
East.”
In the 20 years Arbuthnot has been financing yachts, Dick and
Keeler insist they have never “lost a penny”. They have also never
had to repossess a vessel, although Dick admits, on one occasion, a
customer did try to sell a yacht leased to them by Arbhutnot to
extricate himself speedily from the loan.
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By GlobalDataUnlike the small- to medium-sized boat sector, superyachts have
not yet been affected by the credit squeeze.
However, Dick warns: “It is naive to think discretionary
spending – such as yachts – will not be affected by the liquidity
squeeze. Nevertheless, the buyers are usually so rich that, in the
main, the outlay for a superyacht will not prove too
painful.”
“We remain,” he stresses, “as busy as we want to
be.”
