It has room for 10 guests and ample space for sunbathing. But this is no ordinary holiday home. It is an US$11 million super yacht.
The boat is the latest model in the Majesty Yachts brand by the UAE manufacturer, Gulf Craft – a superyacht builder – and was unveiled at the Kuwait Yacht Show this month.
“Everything we build is a one-off,” says Erwin Bamps, Gulf Craft’s chief executive.
“We build several [in the same model] but each is unique in its own right. Think of them as floating palaces.”
The yacht, a Majesty 122, has five bedrooms, which each sleep two people, plus room for five crew, a large seating area for guests to unwind and a dining area complete with chandeliers.
The owner’s bedroom, situated on the main deck with good views of the water, even includes an office, says Mr Bamps.
“Don’t think it of a cabin on a cruise ship, definitely not,” he says. “The idea is to mimic basically a very luxurious villa on the water. When you are on board you really don’t feel you are on the water, unless you look outside.”
He means that literally, because the boat has a system to counter the movement of the waves – so if a storm is raging outside you won’t know it. And even if your glass is filled to the brim it will not spill a drop, says Mr Bamps.
That is a pretty handy because it has a range of 2,000 nautical miles, allowing people to sail the ocean waves.
The boat has been designed with a large area both inside and out to accommodate big groups. “We found out that people in the Gulf don’t like to just invite four friends for a cruise and then spend the weekend going around islands. No, they like to invite 50 people,” says Mr Bamps.
“What we found out as a result is that we had to adapt the layout to accommodate the use of these vessels to bring a larger number of people around the table and together in the boat and enjoy more of a party environment rather than a private entertainment environment.”
q&a blue skies and silver seas
Erwin Bamps, chief executive of Gulf Craft, which was founded in 1982 by a group of boating enthusiasts who wanted to produce something locally, explains to Gillian Duncan what a superyacht is and speaks about the company’s history.
What is a superyacht?
Most people would say it is related to the price tag. But we define it as a yacht over 24 metres from bow to stern.
How many years have you been building them?
We have been building yachts for the last 20 years, and in the last 15 years we have been building superyachts.
How many boats do you build a year?
At the moment we are building about 450 a year. But they are not all the same size. Some years we build a few more smaller ones and other years we build larger ones. We build boats from the budget of a car, say Dh250,000, all the way up to Dh90 million.
Where are your customers based?
Our whole market is the larger GCC. That’s about 40 or 50 per cent of our client base. And we are in a good market because the number of millionaires per square kilometre is quite nice out here. The second market for us is Europe, specifically the Mediterranean area.
Where I can see this $11m superyacht?
It will go on display here at the Dubai Boat Show, which will be held at the Dubai International Marine Club from March 3 to 7.
Top five biggest Majesty Yachts superyachts
1. Majesty 155 (47 metres), $25 million
2. Majesty 135 (41 metres), $17m
3. Majesty 125 (38 metres), $12m
4. Majesty 122 (37 metres), $11m
5. Majesty 105 (32 metres) $6.7m
Source: Gulf Craft
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The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl, 48V hybrid
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 325bhp
Torque: 450Nm
Price: Dh359,000
On sale: now
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Ahmed Raza
UAE cricket captain
Age: 31
Born: Sharjah
Role: Left-arm spinner
One-day internationals: 31 matches, 35 wickets, average 31.4, economy rate 3.95
T20 internationals: 41 matches, 29 wickets, average 30.3, economy rate 6.28
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Barcelona v Liverpool, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE).
Second leg
Liverpool v Barcelona, Tuesday, May 7, 11pm
Games on BeIN Sports
Small Victories: The True Story of Faith No More by Adrian Harte
Jawbone Press
Profile Periscope Media
Founder: Smeetha Ghosh, one co-founder (anonymous)
Launch year: 2020
Employees: four – plans to add another 10 by July 2021
Financing stage: $250,000 bootstrap funding, approaching VC firms this year
Investors: Co-founders
Visit Abu Dhabi culinary team's top Emirati restaurants in Abu Dhabi
Yadoo’s House Restaurant & Cafe
For the karak and Yoodo's house platter with includes eggs, balaleet, khamir and chebab bread.
Golden Dallah
For the cappuccino, luqaimat and aseeda.
Al Mrzab Restaurant
For the shrimp murabian and Kuwaiti options including Kuwaiti machboos with kebab and spicy sauce.
Al Derwaza
For the fish hubul, regag bread, biryani and special seafood soup.
Specs%20
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RedCrow Intelligence Company Profile
Started: 2016
Founders: Hussein Nasser Eddin, Laila Akel, Tayeb Akel
Based: Ramallah, Palestine
Sector: Technology, Security
# of staff: 13
Investment: $745,000
Investors: Palestine’s Ibtikar Fund, Abu Dhabi’s Gothams and angel investors
INFO
Everton 0
Arsenal 0
Man of the Match: Djibril Sidibe (Everton)
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
Company profile
Name: Infinite8
Based: Dubai
Launch year: 2017
Number of employees: 90
Sector: Online gaming industry
Funding: $1.2m from a UAE angel investor
