Wine Mogul Seeks $1 Million Refund After Shipbuilder Fails Before Completing His Yacht

Wine mogul Jim Delegat is fighting to gain more than $1 million from the Auckland shipbuilder that went out of business three months after he commissioned plans for a 70-foot yacht.

Delegat, worth an estimated $150 million, is awaiting the decision of a High Court judgement that will determine whether the funds can be salvaged from Salthouse Marine Limited. He ordered the Salthouse 68 motor yacht in late 2009 when he flew to Perth, where Australian millionaire and former SML director Chris Norman convinced him to buy it.

When Norman pulled the plug on the 27-year-old shipbuilding company, he put 51 people out of work and left a debt up to $2.5 million. He is now being sued by Delegat’s business trust and an SML subsidiary.

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