APRIL 6TH, 2015 – APRIL 10TH, 2015
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VOLUME 11 - NO. 13
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$300 MILLION YACHT IN TURKS AND CAICOS
The ‘A’, which is pictured off the Kids’ Park in The Bight, Providenciales, costs more than £12 million a year to maintain, with each refuelling racking up a bill of more than £300,000.
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ne of the most expensive luxury yachts in the world, which is simply named “A”, and which is valued at around $300 million, recently turned heads and created quite a buzz when it was berthed off the Kids Park in The Bight, Providenciales. The yacht, which resembles a submarine, is owned by Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko, who the SUN understands owns property in the Turks and Caicos Islands and is looking to purchase more. The name “A” is derived from the initials of its owner Andrey and his wife Aleksandra. The ‘A’ can happily accommodate 14 guests in one owner’s suite and six guest suites. She can also accommodate up to 37 crew members onboard. The yacht is powered by two MAN RK280 diesel engines providing approximately 9,000 kW (12,000 hp), sufficient to give the yacht a maximum speed of 23 knots, which is
43 kilometres per hour or roughly 26 decorated with white stingray skin and the taps in the baths are believed miles per hour. At its cruising speed of 19 knots to be worth £25,000 apiece. The ‘A’ costs more than £12 (35 km/h; 22 mph) it can cover 6,500 nautical miles (12,000 km; 7,500 million a year to maintain, with each miles) in under sixteen days before its refuelling racking up a bill of more 750,000 L (160,000 gallon) fuel tank is than £300,000. empty. She offers unparalleled comfort Typically for a mega yacht, A is and handling with advanced stabilizers decorated, equipped, and staffed to an and bow thrusters. Above-deck there is a helipad extremely opulent standard. There is almost 24,000 square feet of interior and swimming pool forward of the space, including 2,500 square feet for superstructure and two more pools aft, one of which is glass-bottomed and can the master suite. Designed by French interiors be viewed from the below-deck disco. 37 staff are employed on the vessel, guru Philippe Starck, it boasts a dance floor with a glass ceiling – which also and there are living quarters for five forms the bottom of a swimming pool more staff accompanying the owners or their guests. on the deck above. The master bedroom is only Security is tightly controlled, with accessible via a fingerprint recognition 1.7 inch-thick bomb-proof glass in system and is protected with bomb- the windows, over 40 CCTV cameras, proof glass. motion sensors, biometric fingerprint/ One of the king-size beds rotates keypad entry for restricted areas, at the touch of a button, the walls are and a rumoured escape pod in case of
emergencies. Melnichenko is one of the richest Russians, with a net worth of US$9 billion as at February 2015. In 1993 Melnichenko cofounded MDM Bank, which turned into one of Russia’s largest private banks. Later he became the sole shareholder of the bank and formed the MDM group. He acquired the Siberian Coal Energy Company (SUEK) and the chemical company Eurochem. Andrey Melnichenko was also one of the founders of TMK, a pipe and metallurgic company. In 2007 he sold the shares in MDM bank, to focus his attention to his industrial assets. SUEK is Russia’s largest coal producer, with a market share of 31%. Eurochem is Russia’s largest fertilizer producer. In 2012 Eurochem acquired the Belgium activities of BASF. Continued on page 2