Discovery Shipyard Liquidator Appointments
Lymington-based Discovery Shipyard has been placed in voluntary liquidation. The directors of the yacht builder of the Discovery Yachts and Southerly Yachts brands, have appointed Neil Gosteow and Stephen Absolom of Interpath Advisory as liquidators. Since December 2021, difficulties had been made public. The owner, Werner Schaebele, who became sole owner in December 2019, through his holding company Binti Marine, had publicly announced that he would no longer invest in the company, making it impossible to turn the company around in the short term.
The company, which employed 80 employees and eight apprentices in January 2021, has since lost employees. Its directors left the company at the beginning of January 2022.
Failure of an ambitious investment project
Yet, less than a year ago, the owner announced his desire to develop these recognized British brands, despite the difficulties they had already gone through in 2019. Werner Schaebele, announced significant investments for 2021. In January 2021, the businessman planned to inject £2 million to strengthen the company's capital and continue to develop the models in its Discovery Yachts and Southerly Yachts ranges, with a particular focus on growth around the Bluewater 50 catamaran. The company announced to have sold 5 boats on plan in 2021. Unfortunately, this was not enough to turn around the British sailing brand and avoid liquidation.
