As has been widely reported the auction of the Genmar assets raised just over U$76 million and saw Platinum Equity get most of the brands, Irwin Jacob’s J&D Acquisitions get Marquis and Carver and Mastercraft get Hydra-Sport. A week later J&D Acquisitions did a side deal with Platinum and bought several former Genmar assets including Larson, Triumph plus VEC Technology. While the VEC Technology process is used to build boats many believe Irwin Jacob’s primary reason for buying the company back was because it builds giant blades for energy-generating windmills. He now has all the design, build and factory components needed to be part of the “green energy” momentum going on over here and that might generate more activity than boat sales.
The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors for Genmar objected to all of the sales “on the grounds that the Genmar estates will be left insolvent, and unable to pay chapter 11 administrative claims, including litigation to recover dollars that its financial investigation revealed should be a part of the estate. If the sales are approved without amendment, over $140,000,000 of claims filed by over 4,000 unsecured creditors will be left behind by Genmar.” This objection was overruled and the sales approved.
Many in the industry including boat dealers with unpaid warranty, boat show and retail promotional reimbursements plus equipment and accessory manufacturers have been hit by this bankruptcy, some severely. How they will fare given the impact to their cash flows and how they will choose to deal with the new entities remains to be seen. Boat owners are also affected with some now having warranty implications to deal with. The outcome of the Genmar bankruptcy is still murky and will be for some time yet.
Posted by: James
Categories:
Marine Industry