Complete takeover of Marsaudon Composites by Grand Large Yachting
The Lorient court has handed down its decision in the receivership proceedings for Marsaudon Composites, builder of ORC catamarans. Of the 4 bids submitted, the court has chosen the Grand Large Yachting group, already responsible for the Outremer, Gunboat, Allures, Garcia and RM Yachts brands, as the buyer. The latter will take over all Marsaudon Composites assets, the ORC brand, its molds, and all 65 employees. Xavier Desmarest, co-founder of Grand Large Yachting, explains: "We are also taking over the contracts for the 4 current boats, as the amounts involved make this possible."
A common DNA
For the manager, the takeover seemed an obvious choice, given the closeness of the brands: "The brands' DNA is close. Grand Large Yachting's mission is to enable sailors to fulfill their dreams of a voyage, large or small, in complete safety. We already had a wide choice. ORC does the same, with different technical choices, and a return to simplicity that we didn't have before. This simplicity, which borders on sobriety, is in with the times. What we have in common with Outremer is this culture of lightness, which will be essential for the development of electrics in particular."
Industrial interest and ORC relaunch
The acquisition of Marsaudon is of mutual industrial interest to both parties. Indeed, Grand Large Yachting, which is struggling to find the necessary production resources, will be building Outremer 45s in Lorient, which will fill Marsaudon Composites' workload. Xavier Desmarest emphasizes: "This will take the pressure off and avoid a race against time in the recovery. We'll be able to take the time to understand what wasn't profitable without having the knife to the throat. The situation is similar to when we took over Outremer. We have the know-how, but we need a clearer direction. Racing is not our thing. On the other hand, with Outremer, ORC and Gunboat, we're going to cover the high-performance catamaran segment extensively."
