Kasper Jakobsen is the owner of Seven Yachts, one of Dubai’s leading yacht sales and charter brokerage. He’s built a small yachting empire through his charter business which started with two yachts and has now grown into perhaps the largest commercially operated luxury charter fleet in the region. By constantly reinvesting in inventory and building the Seven Yachts fleet, Kasper has captured enormous market share of the luxury charter market in the Gulf.
In past years Kasper has turned his focus to the importation of yachts from Europe to be sold privately in the UAE. “The UAE has a great shortage of well maintained vessels” said Kasper, which forces us to look abroad. We’ve created a very nice niche in the sales market by offering high quality and well maintained used/ new yachts for sale. Whether for our own fleet or for our clients, we typically search for 5-10 year old yachts in the Mediterranean. Provided the mechanical condition or the vessel is in order, we can do very cost efficient refurbishments in Dubai and are happy to manage that process for our clients.
“Clientele in Dubai and across the UAE have a here and now mentality” said Mr Jakobsen, elaborating that more often than not, they’re not willing and to look abroad for options. Which makes things challenging with he limited stock in Dubai. “We take the headache out of this process for our clients by shortlisting qualified options through our network in Europe, we’ll take a flight out for the client and produce video content on a vessel as well as survey it, import it and manage the entire handover and registration process.”
Kasper typically sells vessels upward of 5M Euro which given the number of sales Seven Yachts is making at a 6% commission makes it a very lucrative operation. In smaller segments of the market, Kasper’s team of brokers at Seven Yachts will take on the sourcing of vessels anywhere north of 2M Euro.
What sets Seven Yachts apart from other competitors in the industry is their full on house management and charter operation. Owning a Yacht is expensive, but with the team at Seven Yachts managing and chartering a vessel on an owners behalf, their clients are able to realize returns upward of 20% depending on the size of their yacht. This makes yachts a significantly more attractive investment than real estate which produces 5-10% typically in Dubai.
“We focus on relationships” said the owner of Seven Yachts. “Generally we operate as a buyers agent only, listing yachts is not an efficient allocation of our resources, we work to a brief and find the best possible solution for our client”. Kasper went on to say that his investment in relationships is really what has set their company apart. “I am lucky to meet and network with an elite and for many people inaccessible segment of Dubai’s population - I value this network and am constantly blown away by the new opportunities that it creates for our business.”
When asked where he would like to see Seven Yachts in future, Mr Jakobsen responded “We are heavily focused on Sales now especially as Dubais population continues to grow, but Charter will always be our core, we produce fantastic returns on our own yachts and those of our clients. I would like to see us incorporate this into tailored investment opportunities for buyers who may not traditionally be searching for a yacht”. Kasper believes that Dubai provides the perfect mix of long season, low fuel expenses, and high net worth residents to make yacht ownership a commercially viable alternative to real estate investment.
