Sensation yachts situation update

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From Stuff.co.nz

 

A trial date has been set down for two days starting November 1 to sort out the removal of chattels - including three half-finished superyachts - parked at the once salubrious Sensation Yachts headquarters in west Auckland.

Banker HSBC wants to sell the property to recover millions of dollars it is owed but it can't do so without removing the chattels which include three giant superyacht hulls each weighing 100 tonnes.

The bank was hoping to have forced their removal via a short, simple legal procedure called an "originating application" in the High Court at Auckland last month. But HSBC's lawyer James Burt said that move failed after Justice Raynor Asher said the procedure was inappropriate and it must now go to a full trial.

Sensation Yachts Ltd (SYL), which is in receivership and liquidation, was formerly headed by Ivan Erceg. Erceg was has filed an appeal after being declared bankrupt on February 2. He is said to be living in the south of France.

Cayman Islands company Balenia contracted Sensation Yachts in 2004 to design and build five luxury superyachts, the first to be completed by April 2005 and the rest through to 2007. The total value of the contract was more than NZ$100m.

In May 2007 HSBC lent Erceg $6.46m and he granted HSBC a mortgage over the property. The bank is now 'mortgagee in possession' but its efforts to market the property have been hampered by the chattels and hulls still sitting there.

After HSBC took possession of the property in October last year, the yacht company's receivers said nothing should be done to disturb or move the hulls as there were, among other issues, disputes between it and Balenia (and possibly other parties) over various chattels. Balenia has told the court it has a right as owner to have the hulls on the property.

Among the chattels is a damaged vessel Symphonia over which finance company Dorchester Finance has made a successful claim. Balenia, meanwhile, says it is not possible to move the hulls because of their sheer size.

Justice Asher said Balenia was entitled to a full hearing through standard proceedings. HSBC, he said, must go through the usual statement of claim procedure but did not, as Balenia suggested, have to start the lengthy legal application process from scratch.

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another case that the only winner will be the lawyers