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Yachting World

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Bavaria Yachts files for bankruptcy as investors pull out, but catamaran division still going strong

• Elaine Bunting
• April 24, 2018

Bavaria Yachts, one of the world's largest production boatbuilders, is in financial trouble after US investors decided to withdraw support for the company

German builder Bavaria Yachtbau sent out shockwaves among owners and the industry last week when it declared insolvency. According to German magazine Yacht , US investors Oaktree Capital Management and Anchorage Advisors pulled a day after the sacking of Bavaria’s CEO, Lutz Henkel.

The investors are said to be giving Bavaria a ‘soft landing’, guaranteeing three months of operation until the yard closes for its annual summer holidays.

The news took dealers and suppliers alike by complete surprise.

The insolvency is said to affect the manufacturing arm of the company building Bavaria monohulls. Bavaria Catamarans, formerly Nautitech, is not said to be affected. Bavaria purchased Nautitech from French owner  Bruno Voisard and partners just over two years ago.

The catamaran market has been booming with sales outstripping demand, while mid-sized production monohull sales, which slumped in 2008, have never fully recovered.

UK Nautitech dealers Key Yachting Ltd , said: ‘ To this day, the catamaran business remains in Rochefort, France. It is an independent French company with its own employees, suppliers and bank accounts. Seen as the “jewel in the crown” of the Bavaria group, the well managed and profitable catamaran business is already attracting interest from potential buyers.

‘While we understand that both the Catamaran division and the struggling German operation will probably soon be under new ownership, or indeed ownerships, the operation of the Catamaran business is completely unaffected by the situation in Germany. Therefore trading, delivery and after sales service continue as before.’

Bavaria has been through several chapters of ownership. Buyout firm Bain Capital bought the company in 2007 for €1.3bn and handed over two years later to debt investors Oaktree and Anchorage in a huge debt-for-equity transaction in which the two specialists wrote off 90 per cent of Bavaria’s €960m debts.

The company has sought to expand into larger yachts with the launch of two new larger and more luxurious cruisers, the C57 launched last year and C65 that on show in January at boot Düsseldorf. Bavaria is one of the world’s largest volume production manufacturers, oeprating out of a huge plant in Giebelstadt, near Würzburg, where it builds around 4,000 yachts a year.

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Bavaria Yachts emerges from abyss thanks to CMP

• October 3, 2018

The bill of sale between Bavaria Yachtbau Gmb H and CMP has been signed these days and the creditors’ committee has approved the transaction together with Hubert Ampferl, CEO of Bavaria Yachtbau GmbH. The final step will the validation of the document by the German Federal Cartel Office ( Bundeskartellamt) which is expected in a couple of weeks.

” We are convinced of Bavaria Yachts’s global market potential and will sustainably develop the company. The restructuring measures will focus on regaining market share and improving production costs”.

The comment was echoed by the words of  Tobias Brinkmann , CEO of Bavaria Yachtbau:

So, CMP society will focus not only on the turnaround management and therefore the repositioning of the German shipyard on the market but it will have also to complete all the projects undertaken by Bavaria Yachts through operative support and specific managerial measures. CMP will also acquire all shares in the French subsidiary Bavaria Catamarans S.A.S . The private equity fund has also contributed to save the 550 employees of Bavaria Yachts in Giebelstadt and all 250 workers of Bavaria Catamarans in Rochefort .

Now, the future of Bavaria Yachts is in the hands of an excellent buyer, specialized in this kind of operations. We just have to wait for next developments in order to see which strategies will be put in action to fix the company.

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Buyer confirmed for Bavaria Yachts

• Katy Stickland
• September 17, 2018

Hundreds of jobs have been secured following the announcement that a buyer has been found for Bavaria Yachts

Understand boat statistics Credit: Bavaria Yachts

17 September 2018

Bavaria Yachts has been bought by a private equity fund advised by the German investment company CMP Capital Management-Partners.

The move secures 800 jobs in Germany and France.

The yacht builders went into self-administration in April, allowing the firm’s management to remain operational while new investors were sought. This also meant Bavaria could continue to build and deliver 220 yachts during that period.

The private equity fund will also acquire all shares in the French subsidiary Bavaria Catamarans SAS.

‘All 550 employees of BAVARIA YACHTS in Giebelstadt and all 250 employees of BAVARIA CATAMARANS in Rochefort will transfer to the purchaser,’ said Bavaria in a statement.

The purchase will be completed after merger control clearance by the German Federal Cartel Office, which is expected in a couple of weeks. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

CMP Capital Management-Partners is a German investment company that has specialised in the acquisition of companies in distress in Germany, Austria and Switzerland since its foundation in 2000.

With the investment in a company, CMP employees assume operative management responsibilities on site. In the case of Bavaria, Dr. Ralph Kudla, restructuring expert and partner at CMP, will join the executive board.

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Commenting, the managing director ofCMP Capital Management-Partners, Kai Brandes, said: ‘We are convinced of Bavaria’s global market potential and will sustainably develop the company. The restructuring measures will focus on regaining market share and improving production costs.’

Restructuring expert Dr. Tobias Brinkmann, managing director of Bavaria Yachtbau since insolvency proceedings began in April 2018, said Bavaria was an ‘outstanding company with a strong brand, compelling products and a highly dedicated team.’

‘We are pleased to have found a well-known and experienced buyer in CMP who will lead Bavaria into the future. The entire management would like to thank our employees, yacht dealers, customers and suppliers,’ he stated.

‘ They have all supported Bavaria Yachtbau during the insolvency proceedings. The fact that Bavaria has been able to successfully build and deliver 220 yachts during the last five months shows how committed and reliable our staff is,’ added Dr Brinkmann

22 May 2018

Bavaria Yachts has announced it is in the process of securing new investment and hopes to make an announcement in July.

The German yacht builder is continuing to take orders and deliver new boats.

‘Production has been stabilised and deliveries are continuing: more than 30 yachts have left the shipyard over the past two weeks and have been handed over to customers,’ said Bavaria in a statement.

‘All 600 employees are on duty, and agreements were reached with all major suppliers for further delivery against short payment terms,’ it added.

Bavaria went into self-administration last month. This allowed the firm’s management to remain operational while new investors are sought.

It only affected operations at Bavaria’s German operations. Nautitech – Bavaria’s catamaran arm – was unaffected.

The German shipyard said management and administrators have started an ‘investor process’ to rebuild Bavaria Yachts for the future.

‘The objective is to be able to present an investor in July 2018,’ said Bavaria.

The firm, which recently celebrated its 40th anniversary, was sold by its founder, Winfried Herrmann to the private equity group, Bain Capital in June 2007 for around €1.1 billion.

The American investment firms, Oaktree Capital and Anchorage Capital Group then became creditors post financial crisis in 2008.

As part of restructuring, Oaktree and Anchorage waived a substantial majority of their loans and became majority shareholders, investing ‘significant resource’.

‘Unfortunately, Bavaria Yachtbau was unable to recover operational profitability,’ said a spokesman for Oaktree and Anchorage.

As a result, Bavaria went into self-administration, and restructuring expert, Dr Tobias Brinkmann was appointed to find new investors.

‘We are continuing the operation and want to go into the coming order season with a new investor,’ stressed Dr Brinkmann.

‘The first expressions of interest have already been received, and we are also actively approaching potential investors,’ he added.

24 April 2018

Bavaria Yachts has confirmed that is has now gone into self-administration.

The German shipyard said boat production and deliveries will continue until June 2018. Wages and salaries for Bavaria’s 600 workers are also secure until then.

The self-administration, which allows the firm’s management to remain operational while an investor for the company is sought, only affects operations at Bavaria’s German operations.

Nautitech – Bavaria’s catamaran arm – remains unaffected and trading, delivery and after sales service at its base in Rochefort, France continues as normal.

‘In the current situation, we want to supply our customers with the usual high quality, stressed Bavaria’s chief operating officer, Erik Appel.

Dr. Ing. Tobias Brinkmann, specialist lawyer for insolvency law and partner in the law firm Brinkmann & Partner, joins the management team. Bavaria’s previous CEO, Lutz Henkel, left the management board last week.

Bavaria said its ‘top priority is now the search for an investor’

‘We have years of experience building high-quality yachts and are industry leaders in many areas,’ said Appel.

Bavaria said that against the background of a good market positioning, the aim was to ‘put the operation on a sound financial basis’.

Bavaria was founded in 1978 and is considered one of the market leaders in European yacht building. In January, it announced the new flagship C65 as well as the C45 models at Boot Düsseldorf.

Payment of wages and salaries for the months of April to June 2018 will be secured by bankruptcy pre-financing.

In a statement, Nautitech Catamarans, said: ‘To this day, the catamaran business remains in Rochefort France. It is an independent French company with its own employees, suppliers and bank accounts. Seen as the “jewel in the crown” of the Bavaria group, the well managed and profitable catamaran business is already attracting interest from potential buyers.

‘Whilst we understand that both the catamaran division and the struggling German operation will probably soon be under new ownership, or indeed ownerships, the operation of the catamaran business is completely unaffected by the situation in Germany. Therefore trading, delivery and after sales service continue as before.’

20 April 2018

The German yacht building giant Bavaria is expected to issue a statement later today, explaining that it is entering administration.

It is thought that the administration will apply to the Bavaria monohulls, but not to Bavaria catamarans. The company, which announced the new flagship C65 as well as the C45 models at Boot Düsseldorf earlier this year, is expected to continue construction and delivery of all current orders and will not be closing its factory.

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Future of Bavaria Yachtbau secured

A private equity fund advised by the Berlin-based investment company CMP Capital Management-Partners will acquire the entire business of Bavaria Yachtbau and continue its operations.

It will also acquire all shares in French subsidiary Bavaria Catamarans SAS. All 550 employees of Bavaria Yachtbau in Giebelstadt and all 250 employees of Bavaria Catamarans in Rochefort will transfer to the purchaser.

A corresponding purchase contract between the management of Bavaria Yachtbau GmbH and CMP was concluded and notarized today. The creditors' committee gave its approval, as did the administrator of Bavaria Yachtbau GmbH, Dr. Hubert Ampferl. The purchase will be completed after merger control clearance by the German Federal Cartel Office, which is expected in a couple of weeks. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

CMP Capital Management-Partners is a German investment company that has specialised in the acquisition of companies in distress in Germany, Austria and Switzerland since its foundation in 2000. CMP’s private equity funds are advised by Berlin-based CMP Capital Management-Partners. With the investment in a company, CMP employees assume operative management responsibilities on site. In the case of Bavaria, Dr Ralph Kudla, restructuring expert and partner at CMP, will join the executive board.

Kai Brandes, Managing Director of CMP Capital Management-Partners explains: "We are convinced of Bavaria's global market potential and will sustainably develop the company. The restructuring measures will focus on regaining market share and improving production costs."

Restructuring expert Dr Tobias Brinkmann, Managing Director of Bavaria Yachtbau since insolvency proceedings began in April 2018 states: "Bavaria is an outstanding company with a strong brand, compelling products and a highly dedicated team. We are pleased to have found a well-known and experienced buyer in CMP who will lead Bavaria into the future. The entire management would like to thank our employees, yacht dealers, customers and suppliers. They have all supported Bavaria Yachtbau during the insolvency proceedings. The fact that Bavaria has been able to successfully build and deliver 220 yachts during the last five months shows how committed and reliable our staff is." [skipperondeck.gr]

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Bavaria Yachts sold: 800 jobs secured

• Katy Stickland
• September 17, 2018

Bavaria Yachts has announced it has been bought by a private equity fund, securing 800 jobs in Germany and France

17 September 2018

Bavaria Yachts has been bought out of administration by a private equity fund.

The yacht builder went into self-administration in April, and has been looking for new backers since then. The move allowed the firm’s management to remain operational while new investors were sought.

In a statement, Bavaria said the unnamed private equity fund, which is advised by the Berlin-based investment company CMP Capital Management-Partners, has acquired Bavaria Yachts and all of the shares in the French subsidiary Bavaria Catamarans SAS.

All 550 employees of BAVARIA YACHTS in Giebelstadt and all 250 employees of BAVARIA CATAMARANS in Rochefort will transfer to the purchaser.

The purchase will be completed after merger control clearance by the German Federal Cartel Office, which is expected in a couple of weeks.

Both parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

CMP Capital Management-Partners is a German investment company that has specialised in the acquisition of companies in distress in Germany, Austria and Switzerland since its foundation in 2000.

With the investment in the company, CMP employees assume operative management responsibilities on site. In the case of Bavaria, Dr. Ralph Kudla, restructuring expert and partner at CMP, will join the executive board.

The managing director of CMP Capital Management-Partners, Kai Brandes, said: ‘We are convinced of Bavaria’s global market potential and will sustainably develop the company. The restructuring measures will focus on regaining market share and improving production costs.’

Restructuring expert Dr. Tobias Brinkmann, who has been managing director of Bavaria Yachtbau since insolvency proceedings began in April 2018, praised the commitment and reliability of Bavaria staff, who have built and delivered 220 yachts during the last five months.

‘Bavaria is an outstanding company with a strong brand, compelling products and a highly dedicated team. We are pleased to have found a well-known and experienced buyer in CMP who will lead Bavaria into the future,’ said Dr Brinkmann.

‘The entire management would like to thank our employees, yacht dealers, customers and suppliers. They have all supported Bavaria Yachtbau during the insolvency proceedings,’ he added.

22 May 2018

Bavaria Yachts says it has already had interest from potential investors, and hopes to make an announcement in July.

In a statement, the German yacht builder said production had ‘stabilised’ at its Giebelstadt yard, and it was continuing to take new orders and deliver new boats.

‘More than 30 yachts have left the shipyard over the past two weeks and have been handed over to customers,’ said the boat builder.

‘All 600 employees are on duty, and agreements were reached with all major suppliers for further delivery against short payment terms,’ it added.

‘The objective is to be able to present an investor in July 2018.’

There was widespread surprise when Bavaria announced it was going into self-administration last month.

The self-administration move allowed the firm’s management to remain operational while the business is re-organised

It only affected operations at Bavaria’s German operations. Nautitech – Bavaria’s catamaran arm – was unaffected.

Restructuring expert, Dr Tobias Brinkmann, who was appointed to find new investors, said: ‘We are continuing the operation and want to go into the coming order season with a new investor.

‘The first expressions of interest have already been received, and we are also actively approaching potential investors,’ he added.

24 April 2018

Bavaria Yachts has confirmed that it is now in self-administration, allowing the management to remain operational as it seeks new financial backing.

The move only affects Bavaria’s operations in Giebelstadt, Germany. Nautitech – Bavaria’s catamaran arm – remains unaffected and trading, delivery and after sales service at its base in Rochefort, France continues as normal.

600 workers are being kept updated, and their salaries and wages are secured by bankruptcy pre-financing until June 2018. Boat production and deliveries will also continue until then.

‘In the current situation, we want to supply our customers with the usual high quality,’ stressed Bavaria’s chief operating officer, Erik Appel in a statement released late yesterday.

Dr. Ing. Tobias Brinkmann, specialist lawyer for insolvency law and partner in the law firm Brinkmann & Partner, joins the management team.

Bavaria’s previous CEO, Lutz Henkel, left the management board last week.

Bavaria said its ‘top priority is now the search for an investor’, and against the background of a good market position, the aim was to ‘put the operation on a sound financial basis’.

‘We have years of experience building high-quality yachts and are industry leaders in many areas,’ said Appel.

Last month, Bavaria marked its 40th anniversary. It is considered one of the market leaders in European yacht building.

In a statement, Nautitech Catamarans, said: ‘To this day, the catamaran business remains in Rochefort France. It is an independent French company with its own employees, suppliers and bank accounts. Seen as the “jewel in the crown” of the Bavaria group, the well managed and profitable catamaran business is already attracting interest from potential buyers.

‘Whilst we understand that both the catamaran division and the struggling German operation will probably soon be under new ownership, or indeed ownerships, the operation of the catamaran business is completely unaffected by the situation in Germany. Therefore trading, delivery and after sales service continue as before.’

22 April 2018

Despite no official communique from the company itself, reports from Germany on Friday (20 April) indicate that Bavaria Yachts has gone into administration.

The company employs over 500 people in Giebelstadt, Bavaria making power and sail yachts up to 65ft long. A separately owned multihull brand, Nautitech, is based in La Rochelle, France and is expected to continue business as usual, according to several reports.

A statement is expected early in the week.

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Bavaria Yachts: charting their fall and rise

A topsy-turvy 2018 for bavaria yachts ended satisfactorily when they secured new financial backing. sam fortescue charts their fall and rise.

When one of the world’s top boat builders announced it was entering administration in April 2018, it sent shockwaves through the yachting world. If Bavaria Yachts, underpinned by the quiet efficiency of its German production line and strong global sales, couldn’t compete, what did that say about the rest of the industry? And for those who had put deposits down on their new Bavaria or Nautitech boats, the worry was intense. Would they ever see the boat built, or get their money back?

Astonishingly, just six months later, the business was back on its feet and once again churning-out yachts with a full staff of 800 people. Dr Ralph Kudla, the new chief restructuring officer of the firm, says that he has a target to build 400-500 boats in the next 12 months – that’s nearly ten per week. And he is expecting the business to generate a profit in two-to-three years.

Where did Bavaria go wrong?

So what went wrong? How did the behemoth that is Bavaria stumble, and what does the future hold? Sailing Today spoke to the new boss Ralph Kudla (below) to find out.

For many years, Bavaria wore the crown of the world’s second biggest production boatbuilder after Groupe Beneteau. In the boom years before the financial crisis of 2007-8 the company was famously churning out 3,000 boats per year and, at its peak, it was bought by Bain Capital for a reported €1.3bn. But the nosedive in demand that followed left this investment high and dry, with Bain offloading the troubled yard just two years later for €300m to Oaktree Capital and Anchorage Advisers. At the time, 90 per cent of its €960m debt mountain was also written off.

The new owners put in place a new business model. Instead of going for a high throughput of simple boats, they turned to more complex yachts, with more electronics and greater choice of interior finish. A new line was launched in 2011 with the Vision 46, incorporating “classy woods and fabrics” and an asymmetrical lay-out with a larger cockpit area and lots of windows and hatches for a light saloon.

The yachts gradually increased in size, with the Cruiser 56 appearing in 2013, and the Cruiser 51 a year later. Then in January 2017 Bavaria Yachts went a step further with the launch of its luxury C-line yachts. It remodelled the 56 into the C57, which was heavily trailed with the slogan ‘something big is coming’. A year later, it introduced the C65, C50 and C45. The 65-footer was presented to enormous fanfare at the Dusseldorf Boat Show in 2018, but sold just three boats and has since been discontinued. A source in the industry tells me with a shake of his head: “It was so arrogant”.

By 2016, Bavaria Yachts was claiming to build around 1,000 boats per year. CEO Lutz Henkel explained to me at the time that the yachts had become bigger and more complex, so capacity was lower than at the high-water mark in 2007. But industry sources say that the real figure was closer to 600 yachts per year. “For some time, Bavaria has been the number four producer, behind Fountaine-Pajot,” one boatbuilder tells me. Hanse Group has climbed to second place on boat sales of €150m, while fast-growing catamaran builder Fountaine-Pajot recently bought Dufour to cement third place.

If this is right, then Bavaria had been in decline for some time. Some in the industry say that Bavaria’s prices were simply too low. “They were always trying to make costs lower and lower and that’s not good,” one tells me. Richard Hewitt of UK Bavaria dealer Clipper Marine says there were likely to have been multiple causes of the insolvency. “But if you look at the boat industry, a lot of companies are owned by investment banks, putting them at the whim of investor returns.”

Nonetheless, others say that Oaktree and Anchorage called time on their investment because they were fed up of putting their hands in their pockets to keep it running. Certainly, in 2016, the business had yet to make a profit for its owners. Kudla himself admits that the company was damaged by the high level of debt from the 2007 leveraged buyout (at the time, the debt used to fund the deal was a huge eight times net earnings). Another source likened the succession of CEOs at Bavaria to managers at a struggling football club. “It takes four years to see whether a strategy works,” they said.

A brighter future for Bavaria Yachts

However, all this is in the past, and the future looks brighter. The good news is that during its insolvency, Bavaria still managed to finish and deliver 220 boats – a testament to the work of administrator Tobias Brinkmann. And the new investor, who paid in the “double digit millions” for Bavaria, is a German fund that specialises in distressed companies “with a healthy core business”.

“Bavaria is right in our sweet spot,” says Kudla, who has been parachuted in by Capital Management Partners to restructure the yard. “The brand is very strong and has a very good reputation.” He is turning to the past for his strategy. “If you look back 10 years ago, Bavaria was by far the market leader. It delivered boats of a high value for relatively little money, addressing both families and the charter business. That’s where we want to see the company focus.”

The first step has been to return the company’s French catamaran business to its original name of Nautitech. Bought in 2014, this division has in fact been growing profitably ever since. But all the yard’s other production is going to be brought to its headquarters in Giebelstadt, near Würzburg. And that is going to mean discontinuing some models, Kudla tells me. “We have 26 models right now and we’d like to focus that on 12, with different options and packages.” Leaner, meaner

It’s going to be a slow process, though. “It’ll take us 2-4 years to get there. We’re not going to cancel any successful models just to reduce numbers.” And Kudla says that both the Vision line and the C-line are both selling well, so we’re unlikely to see those trimmed further.

At the same time, the existing line will have to be renewed. Bavaria aims to launch around three new models each year at a consistent rate. “In Dusseldorf last year, there were six newly introduced boats, and such a spend is difficult. Some problems can also emerge if the new models are not fully industrialised. It puts a lot of pressure on development instead of getting the product right.”

With moulds for the C65 sold off, it is likely that the firm will look at new models in its existing 34ft to 57ft range, although Kudla says he doesn’t rule out a smaller boat. “We’re looking at it very closely,” he says cautiously. “It could be interesting to offer a cheaper boat to get to customers earlier.”

Kudla agrees that the options available on some boats may have to be simplified, although this option is still being studied. But the key is as much about standardising equipment and parts. “I would say that we can make all necessary savings from our production line and purchasing,” he says. “We’re not looking to raise prices.”

Richard Hewitt at Clipper is optimistic about the future. “By and large, the public stands behind the brand,” he says. “After any administration issues, it takes a bit of time for that to come back strongly. More important to us is the loss of the London Boat Show.”

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Bavaria : Neuer alter Geschäftsführer bei Deutschlands großer Serienboots-Werft

Fridtjof Gunkel

 ·  01.12.2023

Hochfrequente Führungswechsel sind in der fränkischen Großserienwerft nicht unüblich, die Rückkehr eines altgedienten Geschäftsführers jedoch schon. Michael Müller (66), der 2019 die Geschicke des fränkischen Großserienherstellers in die Hände von Marc Diening gegeben hatte, kehrt zurück. Aus der Pressemitteilung:

“Michael Müller übernimmt wieder das Ruder bei Bavaria Yachts und wurde vom Beirat der Werft zum neuen CEO ernannt. Gemeinsam mit den Geschäftsführern Norbert Leifeld (COO) und Thorsten Gatz (CFO) wird Michael Müller (CEO) die erfolgreiche Werft bei Würzburg leiten und mit ihren fast 700 erfahrenen Mitarbeitern auf Erfolgskurs halten.

Müller hat die Werft zum Erfolg geführt

Michael Müller war bereits von 2019 bis 2021 erfolgreich als CEO bei Bavaria Yachts tätig und kennt das Unternehmen auch aus der Perspektive eines Beiratsmitglieds. Mit der Premiere der Bavaria SR41 im Bereich der Motorboote und der Einführung der Bavaria C42 im Bereich der Segelyachten setzt Michael Müller 2020 zwei wichtige neue Highlights in der Modellpalette. Beide Yachten wurden mit zwei der wichtigsten Auszeichnungen in der Yachtbranche geehrt und gehören heute zu den vielen Bestsellern bei Bavaria Yachts.

Diening konnte Profitabilität steigern

Im Jahr 2021 übergab er das Ruder an Marc Diening, der Bavaria Yachts als CEO durch die raue See der Covid-Krise steuerte und die Profitabilität von Bavaria Yachts trotz Materialknappheit und Preissteigerungen im Markt deutlich steigerte. Mit der neuen Segelyacht Bavaria C46 und dem Motorboot Bavaria SR33 hat Diening in diesem Jahr zwei Yachten auf den Markt gebracht, die für mehrere Auszeichnungen nominiert wurden. Marc Diening verlässt nun auf eigenen Wunsch seine Position als CEO von Bavaria Yachts.”

Mehr zum Thema:

• Bavaria C46: Voluminöses Komfortschiff mit guter Segelleistung im Test
• C 46 dabei: Die für die Wahl Europas Yachten des Jahres nominierten Boote
• Branche: Aktueller Lagebericht zum Yachtmarkt zeigt Licht und Schatten

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