SUPERYACHT Equanimity will fetch a nine-figure price when the sale is concluded next March 31, said the government legal team tasked with overseeing the disposal of the 1MDB-linked vessel.

Specially appointed shipping lawyer Sitpah Selvaratnam, however, did not disclose the bid price, the number of bidders nor from which countries they originate. 

“It’s entering the second stage,” she told reporters after a hearing in chambers with Kuala Lumpur Admiralty Court judicial commissioner Khadijah Idris. Present were 1Malaysia Development Bhd lawyer Jeremy Joseph and senior federal counsel Alice Loke.

In a joint statement distributed to the press, the legal team said after the closing of the submission of bids on November 28, the sheriff of the Admiralty Court “is of the view that proceeding with the second stage of the judicial sale process would be beneficial in securing the optimum value for the Equanimity”.

“With the mandatory phase of the judicial sale process duly completed, with the widest outreach and publicity possible in the superyacht market and to the trading and business community generally, the sheriff would be seeking the necessary orders from court to commence the second phase of this judicial sale by private treaty, for closing of the sale no later than March 31, 2019,” the statement said. 

“The nine-digit asking price will be available on application, once approval of court is obtained, and will commensurate with a 4½-year-old Oceano-built luxury yacht, with the specifications of the Equanimity, as she lies.”

The legal team said “much interest to purchase the Equanimity was recorded” due to “wide publicity and advertisement for her sale”.

Bidding was given the green light on August 24 by the Kuala Lumpur Admiralty Court, which declared that the government and 1MDB are the beneficiary owners of the yacht.  

Prospective buyers had to put down a deposit of US$1 million (RM4.2 million) each to qualify for bidding.

The sales agent, yacht broker Burgess, said on its website that the judicial sale will provide the buyer with an “internationally recognised ownership title free of mortgage, attachment and all encumbrances”.  

Proceeds from the sale of the yacht, seized under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act (AMLA), will be placed in a fixed deposit trust account, said Attorney-General Tommy Thomas in August.

Malaysia took possession of the 91.5m-long vessel from Indonesia, where the yacht was first seized as part of an asset-recovery operation by the US Department of Justice in its probe into stolen 1MDB funds.

The vessel belonged to Penang-born businessman Low Taek Jho (pic), also known as Jho Low, who bought it for US$250 million using 1MDB-linked funds in 2014. – December 5, 2018. – December 5, 2018.