20 Jan 2012

Marquis Yachts and Poly Technologies announce joint venture

By TB

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Firstly it must be said that Marquis Yachts is not a superyacht builder, yet; the largest model is a 72’. At 22m though, is within 2m of knocking on the door of superyacht building. However, the Wisconsin-based shipyard, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of J & D Acquisitions LLC, has now announced a joint venture with Poly Technologies Inc for the sales and distribution rights of Marquis yachts throughout China.

Significantly, Poly Technologies Inc is a Chinese state-owned company. It is that fact that makes this joint-venture important to the superyacht industry. This is the second state-owned company to become involved in the yacht industry (he first was Shandong Heavy Industries who did so through its acquisition of the Ferretti Group) – and although it's far too early to say what Shandong Heavy Industries’ plans are for Ferretti, Poly Technologies Inc has a much clearer immediate aim. The company is currently the exclusive retailer and distributor for Ferrari, Maserati and Mercedes-Benz, as well as a variety of other high-end luxury goods, including real estate, jewellery and fine art. It is the clear and stated intention of the company to leverage its database of luxury goods purchasers to help them boost the sales of yachts in China.



The joint venture will have an office in the newly opened Serenity Marina in Sanya, on the island of Hainan in China's "Riviera". Ironically, Marquis' size range, from 13m to 22m, is more likely to produce volume sales in China’s currently immature market, than significantly larger superyacht products could at this stage.



The significance to the superyacht industry is subtle but we must hope that the fact two state-owned companies are now involved in the yacht and superyacht industry, in China and in Italy, will lead to a more favourable legislative and regulatory climate, for the operation of yachts in Chinese waters, regardless of whether they are foreign flagged, Chinese flagged, owned by Chinese individuals or not. Furthermore, perhaps we may see some relaxation of the recently introduced protectionist regulation preventing the importation of yachts older than one year into the People's Republic, as direct state involvement in the market now goes beyond Peking's previous [relatively strong] indirect support for the whole concept of "yachting".


Related Links

Marquis Yachts Website

Poly Technologies Website

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