Bavaria seeks new investment

Production will continue as normal until July 2018

The race is on to find a new investor for one of Europe’s biggest boat builders after Bavaria Yachts went into self-administration last month.

According to Bavaria’s UK and Spanish importer, Clipper Marine, the administrators have already received multiple expressions of interest from potential investors.

The decision to call in administrators caught dealers and customers by surprise. Bavaria Yachts put on a bullish performance at the Düsseldorf boat show in January, launching four new boats and reporting strong sales of both motor and sailing yachts.

The trigger for this sudden turn of events seems to have been the refusal of its current backers to put any more money into the business, causing a cash-flow shortage that threatened to halt production.

The self-administration process means the firm’s 600 workers will have their wages and salaries paid by German insolvency compensation while the management team look for a new investor. The original time frame of the end of June has already been extended to the end of July to help fulfil existing orders.

Clipper Marine has confirmed that all of the 17 boats it has on order for British customers will be completed before the deadline.

“Our customers have been very understanding,” said Clipper director Matt Attree. “We’ve even sold four new boats since the news broke.” The company’s French subsidiary, Bavaria Catamarans SAS, formed after Bavaria bought Nautitech Catamarans in 2014, is not affected.

Bavaria claims to have one of the most modern boatbuilding facilities in Europe, with state-of the-art vacuum infusion of its hulls and modular interiors that are built outside the boat and then slotted into place.

All of the 17 boats it has on order for British customers will be completed before the deadline