Feel the crisis? But what about – sales of megayachts for $ 200 million are growing, – one of the British newspapers recently published with such a headline, talking about the last yacht show in Monaco. The key event – the star at that fair for the richest people in the world – was the largest and most expensive 75-meter yacht Anastasia. This luxurious oceanic megayacht has taken pride of place in the hundred of the largest such VIP class watercraft.
Anastasia is the new acquisition of Russian businessman Vladimir Potanin. And although the head of the Interros holding company bought it for himself last summer, the final payment for the order, apparently, was already happening during the crisis. The super-boat cost Vladimir Potanin $ 205 million. Now, her owner will have only the costs of maintaining and maintaining the yacht – about $ 20 million a year.
The main assets of Vladimir Potanin are concentrated in metallurgy and mining (MMC Norilsk Nickel, Polyus Gold), the financial sector (AKB Rosbank), the media (ProfMedia holding), real estate and tourism (Open Investments and “Rosa Khutor”).
In order to be in shape and better cope with losses in business, psychologists strongly recommend that as a therapy – to do acquisitions. For Russian businessmen, shopping is preferable. And to deny yourself the pleasures, even in times of crisis, it is embarrassing – already used to – to be the best in the art of fun and “take it to the fullest.” And buying a yacht, as well as its use, gives a lot of positive emotions. And the ship “Anastasia” is a vivid confirmation of this. There is also a proverb that “as you call a boat,” so it will float. Translated from the ancient Greek “Anastasia” – “return to life.”
The design and furnishings of Vladimir Potanin’s new yacht confirm that wealthy Russians still have furniture made from eucalyptus and other exotic woods, comfortable high-tech cinemas, popular water toys (boats, scooters, speed boats) and helicopter platforms. Breakfast on the yacht is a different story. About 10 a.m. local time in the Kingdom of Monaco, it’s time to have breakfast. As reported on the Anastasia yacht’s website, the Potanins family are offered on the menu: “duck legs in a special marinade with cardamom, orange and ginger glaze, fried lamb saddle with olives from the Peloponnese island and Morel sauce, and chocolate for dessert tartlets with raspberries and berry mousse. “
When it’s 10 in Monaco, in Norilsk far from Moscow, it’s already 4 p.m. The completion of the work shift is nearing the miners of Norilsk Nickel.
At “Norilsk Nickel” (the city-forming enterprise of Norilsk, the majority shareholder is “Interros”) there is more than enough instability since the beginning of the year. In April, the arrival of the head of RUSAL Oleg Deripaska to the enterprise, to which Mikhail Prokhorov, the former partner of Potanin, sold a block of shares. Then the personnel changes initiated by Potanin himself: since August 2008, Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, the former head of Rostourism, was appointed to the post of general director. And although, as his colleagues note, he is not a specialist in mining metallurgy, but he is a man loyal to Prime Minister Putin, who is familiar with him while working at the KGB in the Leningrad Region. And now there’s also a story with a syndicated loan debt of $ 400 million, which must be repaid this month.
It is significant that representatives of the Russian oligarchic workshop, whose business includes the assets of key enterprises of the country (which allows them to live “comme il faut”), prefer to enlist the support of the state – that is, minimize risks and responsibilities. Do not mortgage your favorite assets in securing loans from abroad: yachts, airplanes, real estate on the Cote d’Azur, St. Tropez and Sardinia. Meanwhile, the crisis, which continues to dictate its harsh conditions, puts most of Russia’s large industrial enterprises (Magnitogorsk and Novokuznetsk metallurgical plants, Norilsk Nickel and others) in conditions of extreme survival. This means a decrease in the level of production by 30–40 percent (with a forecast of up to 60–80 by the end of the year in some). According to experts, the state of metallurgical companies and employee salaries in the coming months may be reduced by an average of 25-30%. On some enterprises, the length of the working day was reduced, and a four-day working week was introduced.
But for large players, the losses, apparently, are not so noticeable that they demonstrate their spending. And if earlier, during the crisis of 1998, wealthy and wealthy Russian entrepreneurs said that they only rented villas and yachts, today they are buying them without false modesty.
The entrepreneur Roman Abramovich, who is also known as the co-owner of Evraz-Holding, as well as the speaker of the Chukotka parliament, has become the trendsetter for demonstrating abundance and superiority in the lifestyle of Russians abroad. The other day the Royal Court of London received a list of Roman Arkadievich’s property – which was a considerable undertaking for the world’s leading media. It turned out that Abramovich owned: Chelsea football club, several houses in England, a chateau in a ski resort in the United States (Colorado), in France, villas in Sardinia and the Caribbean. A separate hobby of Roman Abramovich is yachts. He has four of them (for details, see the article “The Free Space” “The Glamorous Fleet” for July 2006). Novaya also spoke about the story of the presidential yacht Olympia (Yachts for the President), which was contacted by the names of former Russian President Vladimir Putin and Roman Abramovich.
It was after 2005 that the rich Russians won the TOP-100 rating of world yachts. They came there swiftly, leaving no chance for the kings and Arab sheikhs to return to their previous leadership positions. And even now, in the midst of the global crisis, foreign experts claim that almost every buyer of a mega-yacht more than 60 meters is from Russia. It is interesting that, according to specialized yachting resources, for many wealthy Russians, the crisis has not changed anything, several large orders from Russia have already been made in the coming months.
What Potanin bought: dossier on a yacht
The six-deck navy Anastasia yacht created in the Netherlands is named after the daughter of Vladimir Potanin. It is oceanic, but so far, as far as is known, it has not gone beyond the borders of the Mediterranean Sea. Spends most of his time in the Cote d’Azur region of France, in Monaco or in Sardinia. The other day I docked in the port of the French city of La Ciotat, famous for the fact that the Lumiere brothers film “Arrival of a Train” was shot at his station.
Due to its length of 75 and a half meters, Anastasia immediately fell into the hundred of the largest megayachts in the world in the annual rating of the American magazine POWER & MOTORYACHT – a yacht analogue of the Forbes list.
The cost of the contract for the purchase of Anastasia yacht, according to experts, amounted to about $ 205 million. Another 4-5 million went to improve the design. These are Australian eucalyptus wall panels, bamboo flooring, crocodile-leather bookcases and display stands, special finishes made from exotic woods – wenge growing in the jungle of West Africa and ebony tree ylang-ylang growing in the Pacific islands in Southeast Asia. , whose oil, as you know, is used, for example, for the preparation of exclusive brands of perfumes.
The cost of annual maintenance of this yacht will be about $ 20 million. This amount includes not only port services. It is also the management of offshore companies managing the yacht. For example, now the yacht is registered in the Cayman Islands, the capital of which Georgetown has become its home port. At the stern of the ship, the flag of this world famous offshore is fluttering. A considerable part of the cost of servicing the yacht is also the maintenance of four servants and twenty crew members. For example, the salary of the captain of the yacht resident in South Africa, Brett Phyllis, is such that he can easily afford to study at the prestigious Bentley car driving courses near York in the UK in his free time.
The multi-level master’s cabin with a wide two-meter bed and an almost one and a half meter plasma recessed wall, heated floors, a jacuzzi, an additional television monitor in the bathroom and all kinds of digital interactive systems are just some of the amenities that are offered. In addition to them, there is a separate massage room and a fully computerized gymnasium with access to the pool located on the deck and surrounded by soft sofas. So that the owner could get on the yacht from anywhere in the world, a helicopter platform is arranged on the open deck.
The customer of the yacht, even during the first meeting with the designers, said that he wanted to create a universal yacht for entertainment, relaxation and rest. Therefore, guests, for whom several more cabins of increased comfort are prepared, will also not be bored. For them, a cinema for ten seats with ultra-soft seats and an ultramodern projection system is provided. A special transformer lounge allows you to turn the main deck into a kind of night club in the evening. Living room furniture and sunbathing platforms move apart, musicians appear on the emerging stage, speakers turn on at full power, a smoke machine, a laser show and disco illumination begin to work. Algae from Czech glass, which make up a multi-storey sculptural composition that pervades several decks along spiral staircases, begin to play with special highlights. Or a copper bar with a greenish tint, and with it a huge multi-meter aquarium with a coral reef and fish specially caught to decorate the yacht directly in the waters of the Indian Ocean.
This aquarium separates the main living room from the dining room. They usually serve pheasant broths with croutons and vegetables, spiny lobster medallions with tropical fruits and of course assorted lobster with salmon, crab meat and red caviar. The next morning after such a holiday – sea entertainment, the equipment for which is expertly hidden in the lower tiers of the yacht.
There is a giant hangar with huge rising gates – as in the action movies about Agent 007. From the hangar, the automatics will lower any “toy” at will at will. This nine-meter glider, and a comfortable limousine boat for ocean walks for two, and equipment for windsurfing and diving. And of course, many jet skis and underwater scooters costing from 10 thousand to 30 thousand dollars each.
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