A boat called Wanda

So, Sunseeker is being sold to a massive Chinese property developer that is pouring over £1billion into two UK developments in the next few years. The deal, for 92% of the Dorset-based boat builder will cost Dalian Wanda Group £320 million.

That’s a bit of a result really, when you consider that the company will, apparently, retain all of its staff and management. In fact, the boat builder may have to do some expanding if the sales-pitch is to be believed.

It is hoped (presumably by the new owners) that production could be raised from 180 to 370 yachts per year, with the majority of that increase already earmarked for the growing Chinese leisure boating market. So, demand for Sunseeker in China will be greater than all of its current output, really?

The investors are obviously keen to make it work, but this figure seems a little optimistic, even for one of the most bullish of British brands.

The last investors in the marque, Dublin-based F L Partners, picked the company up for a measly £25 million in 2010 and will likely be rubbing their hands together with glee at turning things around so quickly.

Whether the new investors are going to have the ‘luck of the Irish’ remains to be seen. But with the same management at the helm and operations staying rooted in Poole, there’ll be nobody else to blame, sorry, congratulate in a few years time.

UPDATE - November 2014

Well, it seems like that growing stack of Sunseeker orders in China has rather evaporated. Last month Sunseeker announced that 300 of its staff would be made redundant before the end of 2014. The company took the opportunity to remind everyone of its renewed focus on new models and some re-imagined designs from the most popular lines of yesteryear.

If Sunseeker manages to pull off the ‘new Mustang by Ford’ or ‘new Challenger by Dodge’ trick with its new Superhawk, then maybe it’ll be hiring time again in Poole.

The Group executive director Sunny Thakrar said that Sunseeker remained; “in a good place, with a strong shareholder who understands the business and provides financial stability.”

I hope the appointment of Phil Popham as Sunseeker’s new chief executive officer doesn’t have a negative impact on the company’s fortunes. He arrives fresh from Jaguar Land Rover and if he brings any of the carmaker’s questionable customer service with him then the Poole boatyard is surely doomed.