The yacht brokerage industry made it into the mainstream press yesterday, July 26th, with the news from London that Edmiston & Company had won its High Court legal case against Boris Berezovsky, the Russian businessman. Edmiston had been forced to challenge Mr Berezovsky over a commission they were owed following their sale of his 110m motor yacht Darius in 2008. Edmiston was joined in the High Court by broker Merle Wood of Merle Wood & Associates who’d worked alongside Edmiston in the sale.
In his ruling, Mr Justice Field found that Edmiston had been responsible for the sale of Darius, and that Mr Berezovsky should pay Edmiston their rightful commission. Commenting on the judgement, Edmiston said, “We were obviously extremely disappointed that we had to go to court over this matter; however, we are pleased with the ruling which has confirmed the key role we played in the sale of Darius.”
Built by Lürssen to a Tim Heywood design, Darius was sold for over € 240 million, making it the most expensive brokerage sale ever. She has since been renamed Radiant.