Watermark Marine seeks immediate buyout to avoid bankruptcy

by Watermark Marine on 5 Nov 2009 Watermark Marine, the first wholly owned British boat builder in China, has been in negotiations with investors for some months. Unfortunately time has run out for the company and its management have decided to offer the company to interested parties for its debts which stand at £95,000.00.

Watermark Marine needs investment within the next two weeks to save this very worthwhile operation which has enormous potential. Watermark Marine has built a strong brand presence especially in Asia with international media coverage in both marine and luxury magazines and boat show appearances throughout China, Korea and Australia.

There are now seven Watermark Marine boats on show around the globe. We are currently nurturing several high-value private and military enquiries for our boats which are potentially extremely lucrative. All current IP, design and supplier relationships remain intact. Watermark Marine's factory is 2200 square metres with 20 staff and all tooling. There are moulds for the Aquavite 7m and Firefly 7.7m RIB, hull moulds for the Swordfish 7.5m RIB and the hull plug for the 12m Seafury cabin RIB.

Distributor agreements have been signed for Australia, Greece, Canada and Holland and there is a signed agreement to produce 12m patrol boats for the Chinese military. Watermark Marine's boats range from the 7m Aquavite powerboat through to the 12m Seafury cabin RIB. The designs are by Adam Younger (naval architect and former European powerboat champion), structural engineering by High Modulus of New Zealand and components are all top brand names such as Garmin, BEP, Mercury, Orca Hypalon and Raymarine.

The investment memos, the sales and marketing plan and financial figures can be provided immediately. The boats can be viewed at www.watermarkmarine.com, www.apolloduck.com and www.youtube.com (search under 'Watermark Marine').

??A letter from Joe Mearns puts it into perspective:
'We simply ran out of operating capital and the Directors had nothing left to give - just when the company was starting to move.

The amount of work and money that has gone into the company far outweighs the buy-out price - which just represents outstanding debts. To set up the quality of operation we have in China and to go through all the bureaucracy to create a wholly owned enterprise is quite an ordeal. All the hard work is done and we still have enquiries as well as a very positive review for our Firefly in Australia's Tradeaboat magazine.

If someone can help stop us from becoming another statistic and instead help us turn this into a positive survival story it would be refreshing for everyone as we are certain this company has legs and could do very very well.'

To register an interest in the company please contact Joe Mearns (jmearns@watermarkmarine.com), +44 (0)7977 043 336 or Laura Stone (laura.stone@watermarkmarine.com) +44 (0)7939 953 395