By John Helmer, Moscow
A leading shipbroker confirms that Suleiman Kerimov’s 90-metre motor yacht Ice is for sale at €200 million. “It is quietly on the market, but it is not being actively marketed,” the source revealed on Monday, days after the sale notice went up for Kerimov’s French beach house at €20 million.
Constructed at the Lurssen shipyard, Bremen, in 2005, and refitted in 2008, watch Ice as she goes about. The asking price has been confirmed by two people familiar with the matter.
A yacht broker also confirms that Kerimov recently took delivery of a brand-new vessel, currently called Air, from the Feadship yard in the Netherlands. Here’s the new vessel:
Kerimov’s new boat is 9 metres shorter, and though it can accommodate the same number of guests (14) in the same number of cabins (7) as Ice, it’s going to be a tighter squeeze. There will also be five less crew than before to carry the cocktails. The broker confirms that the new Air is available for charter; another source claims the going rate is €750,000 per week.
Super-yachts are for having super fun and for displaying super credit ratings. But their cost, if leveraged and subject to bank claims, can be a problem, as well as an opportunity. A source familiar with Kerimov’s financial affairs claims “he’s undergoing what the banks call a workout.” Kerimov’s US lawyer and spokesman, Eliot Lauer of Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle, was asked to confirm whether the delivery of the second motor yacht is for operation by a group of banks in relation to loan agreements. Lauer’s New York office has yet to reply.
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