‘Equanimity’ to be sold for hundreds of millions of dollars by March 31
KUALA LUMPUR: The luxury yacht Equanimity that is purportedly linked to fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, will be sold for hundreds of millions of US dollars by March 31.
This is the second stage of the judicial sale process that the sheriff of the Admiralty Court deemed would be beneficial in securing the optimum value for the yacht.
A representative of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) and two of its subsidiaries’ legal team said the sheriff would seek orders from the court to start the second phase of the judicial sale by private treaty and for the closing of the sale no later than March 31.
He said this part of the judicial sale process was held open for one month, and a lot of interest in buying the Equanimity had been recorded.
He said the wide publicity and advertisement for its sale, through invitation for public tender by sealed bids, was an essential aspect of the sale process to transfer a clean title to the purchaser.
He said the nine-digit asking price would be available upon application, once the approval of the court was obtained.
“Once the approval is obtained, it will be commensurate with a 4½-year-old Oceano-built luxury yacht, with the specifications of the Equanimity, as she lies,” he said after meeting Admiralty Court judicial commissioner Datuk Khadijah Idris in chambers yesterday.
He said the court was considering various aspects of the offers received up to the closing of the submission of bids on Nov 28.
On Aug 23, the government, 1MDB and its two subsidiaries, 1MDB Energy Holdings Ltd and 1MDB Global Investment Ltd, filed a court order seeking to expedite the sale of the vessel.
The plaintiffs named Equanimity of Cayman Islands as the defendant in the suit filed via law firm Jeremy Joseph & Partners.
In the notice of application, the four 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 Admiralty Court sheriff.
The super yacht was handed over to Malaysia on Aug 7 by the Indonesian authorities.
It was seized off Bali in February at the request of the United States authorities as part of corruption investigations launched by the US Department of Justice into 1MDB.