KEY POINTS:
Glamour Auckland boatbuilder Sensation Yachts has sold its Australian shipyard to focus on developing a $500 million state-of-the-art facility in Singapore.
Owner Ivan Erceg, brother of dead liquor baron Michael, said the New South Wales site was too small for roboticised production. It was sold to Australia's Azzura Marine for an undisclosed sum.
"We have done very well," said Erceg. "We made money, no jobs were lost. Could the Australian facility have been converted to be more efficient? No. Old and new technology don't mix. It would be like trying to build aircraft robotically in a cowshed."
Sensation hit the headlines this year with complaints of late payments and an application by former managing director Paul Sills to have the company liquidated to recover $89,000 he said was owed.
Erceg said he had "taken his eye off the ball" in day-to-day company matters, stepping down for more than a year. Sensation was now in calmer waters.
Sills said the liquidation issue had been resolved, and a hearing on August 28 would decide when the money should be paid to him.
High Court records show 10 other cases are still pending against Sensation, all but one involving liquidation. One applicant is the Inland Revenue Department.
Erceg said nearly all of the cases had been settled and the others, including the IRD claims for "less than a million", were being negotiated, with money in accounts ready for payment.
He said all cases had arisen when he had stepped down from hands-on management.
The role of Sensation's New Zealand operation would probably change from boatbuilding to "parts supply". The workforce at the ageing shipyard on Henderson Creek would be boosted to 90, but could move from the complex in the next two to three years. Some staff would move to Singapore.
Erceg has sought international investors. "The plan is underway in earnest. We've spent $3 million on the next phase of Sensation. It's just the beginning."
