Cruise companies likely to buy Equanimity but at lower price

The Equanimity, the superyacht linked to the 1MDB scandal that Malaysia is trying to sell off.

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia will be able to sell superyacht Equanimity through private negotiations but at a lower price as buyers “call the shots” for such movable property, a maritime lawyer said.

M Jagesh said huge cruise operators through their agents would bid for it, the 54th largest yacht in the world.

He said these companies had the money but did not mind waiting a bit longer.

“Just like secondhand vehicles on the road, a vessel will depreciate the longer it is moored to the pier,” he told FMT.

Jagesh also said no individual could purchase the Equanimity as the monthly maintenance cost could run into millions.

“A yacht of this nature will likely be bought by top cruise companies operating in the Western world as there are demands there among the affluent for leisure at sea,” he said.

The lawyer said this in response to fugitive Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, describing the “failed bid” to sell the Equanimity as a public relations stunt by Putrajaya.

Low in a statement issued by his lawyers said no “sensible” person would buy the Equanimity with so much uncertainty regarding its ownership.

Lawyer S Sitpah, who is representing the Malaysian government, had said earlier this week that they were entering into the second phase of the bid to sell Equanimity.

“The first phase received bids, but the bids were not of acceptable degree. Therefore, we have to move on to the second phase,” she said.

The second phase, Sitpah said, would be a normal sale through private negotiations.

Jagesh said the government had strictly followed all provisions in the Malaysian Shipping Ordinance in search of a buyer to dispose of the Equanimity and that ownership was not in doubt anymore following a court order.

“It would have been difficult to sell the ship under the first phase as the price would have been suppressed. But the prospect of finding a buyer via private negotiation is bright as it was a matter of coming to an agreement over the price,” he said.

Jagesh said the appointed brokers and the appraiser with an international reputation would have to pick a potential buyer and conduct negotiations.

“Everything will be done in a transparent manner as the sheriff appointed by the court will also be involved. To me, it is the question of pricing,” he said.

Jagesh said Low, who is wanted in Malaysia and the United States in connection with the 1MDB scandal, was issuing media statements as a distraction and to hit out at the Malaysian government.

“He should have appointed a local lawyer when the government went to court to claim ownership of the ship but did not do so because he had no cause of action,” he said.

On Oct 19, the High Court ruled that the government and three others were the rightful owners of Equanimity because 1MDB money was used to purchase it.

It said the ship could also be put up for sale as the registered owner of the Equanimity, of Cayman Islands, had not turned up to contest the suit and deny the claim by the government, 1MDB and the two subsidiaries.

Low is alleged to have used US$250 million (RM1 billion) of 1MDB money to buy the yacht. -FMT