The 2nd Annual Superyacht Finance Forum organised by Marine Money was held recently at the Auditorium Rainier III in Monaco. Anthony Galea from DF Marine, a division of DF Advocates specialised in yachting, was for the second consecutive year invited to address the delegates present.

The forum kicked-off with a report presented by Ash Rajan, Head of Investment Policy at Merrill Lynch, who presented the figures following research carried out by Merrill Lynch relating to consumer behaviour patterns and trends of the ultra high net worth individuals. The presentation also analysed trends in the upcoming markets of Brazil, China, and India.

Dr Galea chaired the panel related to superyacht finance.The panelists reported an increased level of requests from prospective yacht owners since last year's conference in September 2008. However, this was not of itself sufficient to suggest an increase in yacht finance activity or the picking up of sales and purchase activity, due to the uncertainty existing in the capital markets and global economy. According to the panelists yacht finance is still available for the right clients purchasing the right yachts, although it was generally acknowledged that the banks still active in the industry were being more cautious than ever.