Nine-digit price tag for Equanimity

‘Much interest’ from bidders in superyacht

KUALA LUMPUR: A nine-digit asking price has been placed on the superyacht Equanimity,

which has seen “much interest” from bidders after a one-month invitation for public tender closed on Nov 28.

This means the price tag can theoretically be near one billion.

The plaintiffs seeking the sale of the yacht is asking for the purchase price to be paid in US dollar, euro or ringgit.

Now, the sheriff of the Admiralty Court is seeking the necessary orders to start the second phase of this judicial sale by private treaty and close the sale no later than March 31.

The Admiralty Court was set up in 2010 to deal with admiralty and maritime cases.

“The nine-digit asking price will be available on application, once approval of court is obtained, and will commensurate with a fourand-a-half-year-old Oceanco-built luxury yacht, with the specifications of the Equanimity

as she lies,” the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) legal team said in a statement.

According to the statement, there was much interest recorded to buy the Equanimity

during the one month of the earlier judicial sale process.

“The wide publicity and advertisement for her sale, through invitation for public tender by sealed bids, is an essential aspect of the judicial sale process to transfer clean title to the purchaser,” the statement said.

The statement said the sheriff of the Admiralty Court had considered the various aspects of the offers received at the closing of submission of bids on Nov 28.

It said the sheriff was of the view that proceeding with the second stage of the judicial sale process would be beneficial to secure the optimum value for Equanimity.

On Oct 19, the High Court declared that the Equanimity belonged to two 1MDB subsidiaries – and indirectly the Malaysian government – after its registered owner failed to show up in court to claim the vessel.

Besides 1MDB and the government, the other two plaintiffs are 1MDB Energy Holdings Limited and 1MDB Global Investment Limited, which are 1MDB subsidiaries.

On Oct 5, the court granted an application by the four plaintiffs to appoint a central broker and an international appraiser to handle the sale of the Equanimity.

This followed a decision on Aug 24 by the same court in granting an application by the four plaintiffs to sell the Equanimity.

The four plaintiffs had named the owner of the ship, Equanimity of Cayman Islands, as the defendant in the suit.

In their notice of application, the plaintiffs asked for the sale of the ship, bunkers, fuel, lubricants and other consumables on board to be conducted via public tender or private treaty by the sheriff.

The plaintiffs wanted the sheriff to receive bids or offers for the vessel and the bunkers and for the purchase price to be paid to the sheriff in US dollar, euro or ringgit.

They said the proceeds of the sale of the vessel should be paid into court and placed in a bank account in Malaysia as approved by the Accountant-General.