Bertram Yachts Has Been Sold

Gavio's core business is motorway concessions. They also manage some port facilities and transport and into engineering. A bit of a surprising turn, at least to me, as I anticipated if there was any possibility of a buyer it would be in the US. Perhaps the Bertram name does carry more value today in Europe. Will be interesting to see what shape the Italian Bertram takes, both company wise and boat wise.

Thank you for bringing this news to YF Liam. This the first I've heard about it, although I'm likely to get an earful next week when I have a meeting with Ferretti's attorney to discuss a YF project.

This thread is being moved into the General Discussion Forum.

Very interesting news and turn for Bertram. I wonder if the Bertram name and brand is even salvagable and can be one of the big 3 again. I remember the Bertram Hatteras shootouts that went on for many years.

That was the 80' that they laid up everything in Italy and shipped the finished layups in the molds to here on Sevenstars ship, but no, they did build a 54' here, possibly their last boat. A friend of mine was involved with ironing out a lot of bugs with it. It might have been their last boat built, I think it got launched around March of last year and from the Merritt Island facility I think. I could call him and find out.

I am pleased that Bertram has found a new home. The name and history deserve it.

Wow! The Gavio Group must be in need of a huge write off. Well, they certainly picked the cream of the crop.

A positive move. Lets all hope the account department take second place.
As if...but you never know.
Why else would anyone PURCHASE a headache, except to return it to respectability, because truly, what else, other than real estate, has the Bertram Brand have except for a sentimental and highly recognised HISTORY?
Olderboater, chime in Mate?
We live in hope.

With Baglieto I don't think they need any write-offs......LOLOLOL

I wasn't gonna go there J...but yeah...them too!

I figure the name Bertram has some value in Europe, perhaps not tarnished as it is in the US. SF is definitely a segment that has been rising with many of the boats sold in the US being shipped to Europe. I don't figure they paid all that much, probably no more than the value of just the designs and molds they picked up. Ferretti wasn't exactly selling from a point of strength. They also very likely have spare production capability they're looking to fill.

There is a long distance to travel between the desire to return it to respectability and actually doing it.

To me, there is one sign I'll be looking for. If they intend to wait for orders before building any boats, I see a lot of brand saving done that way that never works. Post, anyone? However, if they build some speculative boats to get things started then that will be a sign of commitment and might actually work. But at this point, no one knows what the new Bertram will be like and until the first one or two are built, it's living on a dream made of paper mache. Build a couple, publicize them, get them reviewed, and there's hope.

Hang on just for a bit, people.

It's not been sold. It has been arranged for due diligence and negotiations, and afterwards, if parties agree on price and conditions, and if they don't get abruptly slashed by some applicable regulator, then it will be.

It is usually hard to close a deal in 2 months, too. (But then again, might be easy in Bertram's case as it's in... how to put it... rather simple business state presently.)

Very good point. There are a lot more letters of intent than sales. However, generally companies don't make public announcements unless they feel there's a strong probability the sale will go through. Still no guarantees though. Sort of like a boat being sold subject to survey.

Should be rather straight forward if price has been agreed upon. Business isn't operating and only assets are the name and the designs and molds. No arguing over profitability or sales, etc.

I would argue that at times sale of a halted business gets more conflicted then of any running one, because the buyer might be going for one very specific thing (the brand. Or some particular property, like real estate or patent portfolio. You get the idea.) when the seller naturally wants to charge something for everything down to unused materials stock leftovers. The buyer would go like "leave all that for yourself and just get me the brand/REstate/patents/whatnot for the fair price" and seller would be like "nah, it's a bundle deal only".
And that quickly gets funnier then any profitability counting ))
But then again, there's just not much point in us arguing since we're saying the same things absolute most of the time.

I cannot imagine there is that much money involved but then I'm not an Italian boat builder. Maybe Versa will call them up and ask if they'd like Cabo too.

The difference is Cabo has a stellar reputation, built boats that didn't have issues, rode good, and a strong worldwide dealer network.