Hanse Yachts takes over the shares of Privilège Marine from Aurelius
The Hanse Yachts Group, a major German player in the nautical industry, has announced that it has become a majority shareholder in the French catamaran builder Privilège Marine. It has bought the shares of the investment fund Aurelius, also a shareholder of Hanse Yachts, who had taken control of the multihull shipyard in June 2017 . "During these first two years, we were two sister companies, now Privilege Marine is the daughter of Hanse Yachts, which takes the majority. I also remain a shareholder," summarizes Gilles Wagner, director of the Privilege Marine shipyard.
The amount of the sale has not been made public and Gilles Wagner denies the price of 500 000euros published by the German magazine Float.
Strengthening of Hanse and acceleration of the development of Privilège Marine
The rapprochement between Hanse Yachts and Privilège Marine had begun as soon as their common shareholder took over. By June 2017, Hanse Yachts had acquired the rights to the Privilège brand and bridges had been opened between the design offices and production teams in France and Germany. The change in formal relationships allows the German group to expand its brand and model portfolio. "This is the perfect time to take over the company entirely and expand our multi-brand strategy. With the acquisition of Privilège, we increase our capacity by more than 30 Meuros per year, giving an additional boost to our long-term growth," explains Jens Gerhardt, Managing Director of Hanse Yachts.
Privilege Marine will also gain in agility. "Before, the decisions, studied with Hanse Yachts had to be validated by Aurelius. From now on, we will decide directly with Hanse. We will gain even more reactivity" Gilles Wagner is pleased to say. "We are going to keep the strategy that I have been implementing for 7 years when I took over the shipyard, namely a positioning of high-end catamarans, customizable for owners. Being part of a large group gives us an investment capacity to push Privilege Marine to its limits of capacity on site, namely 25 to 30 Meuros." With a full order book and the launch of two new models, the shipyard plans to hire 50 people in the next 12 months.
