Clyde & Co has a leading yacht and superyacht team with over 20 years of experience. The second series of the Clyde & Co podcast seeks to demystify the process of buying a superyacht. Yacht brokers, family office advisers and bankers, as well as senior Clyde & Co lawyers join superyacht industry commentator John Leonida to discuss every aspect of buying a superyacht. In Episode 4 Leonida speaks with Nic Arnold, UK Head of JTC Private Office. We hope you enjoy listening.

“A superyacht is a complicated asset to own, and it's usually a complicated person that wants to bring the asset into their lives, and you need to understand the context so that you can bring that asset into their life”  Nic Arnold, the doyenne of family office advisors and UK Head of JTC Private Office, was talking to Clyde & Co Superyacht podcast host John Leonida as she and John explored the serious business of how one owns a superyacht.  

Before anyone can contemplate gently cruising in the Adriatic or anchoring off Positano, the thing that makes the superyacht lifestyle possible, viable and stress-free is a serious examination of the motivations for buying a superyacht, by considering a family’s superyacht history, the perspective from which they're coming and who has or is, becoming the family’s superyacht team.  Nic said it’s important for her to know where her client’s families get their information from. Sadly, there is a tendency for some prospective owners to follow the advice which offers the least resistance to their anticipated lifestyle, whether the advice is good advice or not. This is especially true of owners who are new to the structured ownership ecosystem that comes with ultra-high wealth.  

With great wealth comes the need for greater asset management. In a world that scrutinises the lifestyles of the wealthy, getting the ownership and tax structures wrong can be painful, and sadly, getting the tax advice wrong, for example, can sometimes be the most painful, with the potential of criminal sanctions and massive unexpected tax bills.

Nic told John that often “…there is insufficient considered and analytical tax due diligence, for example on the tax history of a superyacht before she is bought… it absolutely won't be a one size fits all situation, and what one has to do is weigh up what that ownership structure is going to achieve from a legal perspective …and how that interacts with the tax system. It is important not to think that the ownership of a superyacht is all about VAT and customs”.  It is incredibly easy to inadvertently lose the tax-paid status of a superyacht.  Owning a superyacht is a serious business that requires cool heads with analytical minds.

Nic shares her experience in advising families with complicated asset profiles. Nic talks about superyachts, trusts, tax and her dream of sailing in the waters of Italy, Croatia and Monte Negro. Nic is earnest in her observations. There is something in this podcast that inspires absolute confidence. Now, what would Lady Bracknell say?

Please see the full link to the episode here. 

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