Fraser Monaco liquidation 'purely administrative'

Fraser Yachts has announced the liquidation of Fraser Yachts Monaco S.A.M, with its functions and service provisions assumed by the new entity, Fraser Worldwide SAM. In line with the establishment of Fraser Worldwide, Fraser has also transferred its brokerage operation from Viareggio to Monaco.

Speaking to SuperyachtNews.com, global marketing director, Patrick Coote said the move was purely administrative. “We simply closed down one business and opened another”, Coote said. “Absolutely nothing has changed and it was purely a financial and legal decision to consolidate everything under one roof.”

Coote said that the decision had been a straightforward requirement of restructuring the Monaco division, and that an announcement had been made to counteract any hearsay that may arise from it. “The shareholders instructed us to switch the way the company was structured in Monaco”, he said. “It required a change in the legal structure and one business took over the dealings of another business.”


Legal firm Hill Dickinson has announced that it will open an office in Monaco in March 2013. Hill Dickinson Monaco SAM will be headed by resident partner, David Reardon, who will be assisted by a team of three.

Commenting on the move Reardon said, “the intention is to get ourselves closer to the intermediaries who we already work with and to enhance those relationships.”

Reardon acknowledged the vagaries of the Monegasque jurisdiction, which would require a company such as Fraser Yachts to take the convoluted step of liquidating one entity, in order to establish another. “To open a business in Monaco you have to obtain a license”, Reardon explained. “There are all sorts of conditions attached to securing this license and, whilst in theory that doesn’t prevent you from changing the ownership structure, if you were then to try and sell on the business into a new Monegasque vehicle it would have to apply for a license in the same way.”

In such a scenario, Reardon said, the most efficient means of transferring the liabilities of the existing entity to the newly established one would be to liquidate the former. “Presumably the intention is to sell off whatever business there was with the proceeds going into the new vehicle, settling any existing debts.” 

Profile links

Fraser Yachts Monaco SAM

Hill Dickinson LLP

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