A FORMER City banker and boating enthusiast has bought more than half of luxury Hampshire RIB builder Scorpion.
Thanks to the undisclosed investment from Patrick Byrne, pictured right, the Lymington-based company now aims to step-up production of its hand-built rigid inflatable boats. It currently turns out 25 a year.
It's the latest boost for the region's booming luxury boat-building sector, with US giant Palmer Johnson planning to build a new base in Southampton creating 800 jobs and New Forest speedboat maker XSMG Marine ramping up production of its 100mph boats in Marchwood.
Costing between £50,000 and £200,000 and measuring between 7.5 and 10 metres in length, Scorpion only makes boats to order, frequently as playthings for the super rich.
A Scorpion enthusiast, who has bought four of the boats in the past nine years and even competed in the Round Britain Rally in one, Mr Byrne says he aims to exploit a gap in the market left by the trend for ever bigger superyachts.
Scorpion's managing director, Graham Jelley said: "As well as the company being set to benefit significantly from his extensive business experience and funding, Patrick and Scorpion are old and trusted friends and as such I can't think of a better partnership to help take the brand forward to the next level and beyond." A former investment banker, Mr Byrne also founded Lodestone Patient Care, a private healthcare firm that runs scanning units in 21 UK hospitals. The 55-year-old sold the company to Australian scanning giant I-Med Network in 2001, but remains as managing director until June, when he steps down to start work with Scorpion.
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"I have been talking to Graham about Scorpion for some time," he said. "I have always been interested in boats and I went to a naval school so I've always been playing around in them.
"Scorpion has an excellent reputation and a proven track record. It's a quality brand and I would like to keep it a quality brand. I would like to expand it as a British product and I would like to keep it built in Britain.
"I see a gap in the market for quality RIBs. People like Sunseeker are building bigger and bigger boats but they are leaving behind a gap in the market.
"At the moment boats are built to order and in a good year it's about 25 boats. If we can add another ten boats a year, that would be a great. We have certainly lost orders in the past by not building them quickly enough."
The Sting, pictured, Scorpion's latest vessel debuts at this weekend's RIBEX show in Cowes.
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