Creditors have followed Sensation Yachts owner Ivan Erceg to his home in France and have impounded his 50m (164ft) superyacht, Sensation, at a harbour in Marseille. Writs were attached to the yacht earlier this month, according to New Zealand press reports, preventing it from leaving the port. The yacht was built at Sensation Yachts’ Henderson yard in New Zealand and launched in 2007.



Erceg told the Sunday Star Times that the yacht was commissioned by his later brother, Michael Erceg. After Michael Erceg’s death in 2005, Erceg said he was compelled to complete it with his own resources.



Erceg said he is now trying to sell the yacht and his mansion on the Cote d’Azur, both of which are owned by his family trust. The yacht has an asking price of NZ$60m and the mansion was listed for sale at NZ$108m. Erceg said the sales would give him more than enough capital to rejuvenate his boatbuilding business. “At the moment my asset base is extreme but my liquidity is low. My personal debt to equity ratios are still very favourable so there’s no issues on that,” he told the paper.



Last month, Erceg lost an appeal involving three superyachts worth US$21.5m. Erceg had appealed a case that had been initiated by a company called Balenia, which had commissioned the three yachts in 2004. When the relationship broke down in 2007, Erceg agreed to buy the three partially completed yachts. In September, the High Court at Auckland ordered Erceg to pay the amount, but he appealed on whether Balenia had provided enough proof of clear title to the yachts. In April, the court agreed with Balenia and ordered Erceg to pay for the yachts.



In January, Sensation’s Hong Kong bank put Sensation’s Henderson base into a mortgagee sale after the bank foreclosed on it.