Sunseeker International is a British luxury performance motor

yacht A yacht () is a sail- or marine propulsion, motor-propelled watercraft made for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a ...

brand. Originally named Poole Power Boats, the company was founded by brothers Robert and John Braithwaite in 1969. The company changed its name to Sunseeker International in 1985 and has since become a global icon. Its headquarters and main assembly facility is in Poole Harbour, at

Poole Poole () is a coastal town and seaport on the south coast of England in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area in Dorset, England. The town is east of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

, England. The majority shareholder has been

Wanda Group Wanda Group (), or the Dalian Wanda Group (), is a Chinese multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in Dalian, Liaoning, and headquartered in Beijing. The conglomerate's core businesses are a priva ...

since 2013. It is the largest UK-based luxury yacht maker measured by 2012 revenues.

Profile

Corporate information

The main operating company's (Sunseeker International Limited, company number 00675320) registered office is Sunseeker House, West Quay Road, Poole, Dorset, BH15 1JD. Sunseeker describes the nature of its business using the

Standard Industrial Classification The Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) is a system for classifying industries by a four-digit code as a method of standardizing industry classification for statistical purposes across agencies. Established in the United States in 1937, it ...

number 30110: 'Building of ships and floating structures'. A

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

, Sunseeker International (Holdings) Limited, was founded in 2006 using an

off-the-shelf company A shelf corporation, shelf company, or aged corporation is a company or corporation that has had no activity. It was created and left with no activity – metaphorically put on the "shelf" to "age". The company can then be sold to a person or gr ...

. There are other companies in the group, including specialist entities for chartering and mouldings manufacturing. Debt financing is provided to the group by HSBC Bank plc through a

revolving credit Revolving credit is a type of credit that does not have a fixed number of payments, in contrast to installment credit. Credit cards are an example of revolving credit used by consumers. Corporate revolving credit facilities are typically used t ...

facility agreement originally dated 8 July 2015, as subsequently amended and restated, pursuant to which the group has mortgaged and charged various assets, including (inter alios) its

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are shipbuilding, built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes m ...

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

, and goodwill.

Industrial profile

Manufacturing is undertaken mainly in

, in eight production plants and

s where it employs c. 2,600 people and produces around 150 boats every year ranging from 38 to 161 feet. An additional deep-water shipyard in Hythe is used to build the 105 yacht and larger vessels. In March 2007, the company announced a 500 job expansion programme, with a new site on the

Isle of Portland The Isle of Portland is a tied island, long by wide, in the English Channel. The southern tip, Portland Bill, lies south of the resort of Weymouth, Dorset, Weymouth, forming the southernmost point of the county of Dorset, England. A barrier ...

. Poole is also home to Sunseeker's dedicated Design & Technology Centre, a unique facility which vertically integrates every detail of the yachts from the initial concept designs through to the finishing details including furniture, complex electrical systems, helm consoles and soft furnishings, thereby maintaining quality control and craftmanship standards.

History

In October 2002, Robert Braithwaite, the founder of Sunseeker International, was named

Ernst & Young EY, previously known as Ernst & Young, is a multinational corporation, multinational professional services partnership, network based in London, United Kingdom. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and PwC, it is one of the Big Four accounting firms, Big F ...

's UK Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2006 Robert Braithwaite led a £44 million MBO of the company, backed by

Bank of Scotland The Bank of Scotland plc (Scottish Gaelic: ''Banca na h-Alba'') is a commercial bank, commercial and clearing (finance), clearing bank based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is part of the Lloyds Banking Group. The bank was established by the Par ...

. The company features in the 2008 ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' list Profit Track 100 of the most profitable non-listed companies and in the Top Track 250 list of mid-sized non-listed companies. In 2010, Irish private equity firm FL Partners took over ownership of Sunseeker through a debt restructuring deal after Sunseeker posted losses the previous year. On 19 June 2013 it was announced that the Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group had agreed to buy a 91.8% stake in Sunseeker for £320M. As reported, it has been promised that the day-to-day running of Sunseeker in Poole will be unaffected, with its 2,500-strong workforce keeping their jobs. The deal was completed mid August 2013. In January 2015, Phil Popham was appointed as the company's new chief executive officer. In June 2019, Sunseeker announced that Andrea Frabetti, formerly Chief Technical Officer at Sunseeker, replaced Christian Marti as CEO. Prior to his time at Sunseeker, Frabetti worked at Italian superyacht manufacturer Ferretti Group for over 25 years, including time as vice president of product development, as well as at Diesel Center SPA as CEO. Marti came on board as Sunseeker's CEO in November 2018 following the departure of Phil Popham. In 2024, Sunseeker changed ownership again two private equity firms, Lionheart Capital from the U.S. and Italy’s Orienta Capital Partners, acquired the company from Dalian Wanda Group. The deal was officially announced at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show in October 2024. This acquisition by Lionheart and Orienta Capital aims to further strengthen Sunseeker's brand globally while expanding its reach in both the North American and European luxury yacht markets. In November 2024 Sunseeker was fined £358,760 by Bournemouth Crown Court for 11 illegal imports of

Teak Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters (panic ...

wood from

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

, costing the company about £60,000 at the time. The imports violated the United Kingdom Timber Regulation, successor to the European Union Timber Regulation. In December 2024 Sunseeker Announces Temporary Staff Layoffs Amid Industry Challenges. Sunseeker International, the iconic British yacht builder based in Poole, Dorset, has confirmed temporary staff layoffs in its production operations as it navigates a challenging period for the wider luxury yacht industry

Appearance in popular culture

Sunseeker boats have featured in the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

film series since ''

The World Is Not Enough ''The World Is Not Enough'' is a 1999 spy film, the nineteenth in the List of James Bond films, ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions and the third to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional Secret Intelligence Service, MI6 agent Jam ...

'' (1999), and continued through '' Die Another Day'' (2002), '' Casino Royale'' (2006) and ''

Quantum of Solace ''Quantum of Solace'' is a 2008 spy thriller film and the twenty-second in the List of James Bond films, ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions. Directed by Marc Forster and written by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, Neal Purvis, Robe ...

'' (2008). The 1999 outing featured Sunseeker's then new offering of the Superhawk 34, in a boat chase within the pre credits sequence with James Bond in a jet boat along the River

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after th ...

, culminating in the Sunseeker beaching near the

Millennium Dome The Millennium Dome was the original name of the large dome-shaped building on the Greenwich Peninsula in South East (London sub region), South East London, England, which housed a major exhibition celebrating the beginning of the third millen ...

. This latest outing showed Sunseeker's new 37m Yacht and the Superhawk 43; it also featured a cameo role for Sunseeker's then managing director, Robert Braithwaite, in one of Sunseeker's very first open-cockpit speedboats, the Sovereign 17. A

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

documentary about the brand, ''Britain's Biggest Superyachts: Chasing Perfection'', shows the building of the Sunseeker 131 yacht. In the feature film '' Logan'', James (

Wolverine The wolverine ( , ; ''Gulo gulo''), also called the carcajou or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species, member of the family Mustelidae. It is a muscular carnivore and a solitary animal. The w ...

) is shown trying to secure money to buy a Sunseeker and live with

Charles Xavier Professor X (Prof. Charles Francis Xavier) is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Uncanny X-Men, ''The X-Men'' #1 ( ...

and Caliban on the ocean.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2013 mergers and acquisitions Companies based in Poole Yacht building companies British companies established in 1969 Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1969 1969 establishments in England Shipbuilding companies of England Dalian Wanda Group British subsidiaries of foreign companies