Founded in 1975 in London, today Burgess is a well-respected household name within the yachting industry - but what else could be expected from one of the world’s top superyacht brokerage houses?
SuperYacht Times caught up with Beckett, and discussed the past, present and future of the company.
Before joining Burgess in 1980, Beckett’s insatiable interest in yachts lead him to work on several yachts before landing a job as a broker on commission in Athens. He comments on the industry, stating that in the early 80s, a 20 metre yacht was deemed an impressive size of boat - a stark contrast to more recent superyacht projects such as Azzam (project-managed by Burgess Technical Services), casting an intimidating, colossal shadow of 180 metres.
The third person to join Burgess, Beckett helped take the company from strength to strength. He recollects a particularly game changing deal made with Donald Trump at the beginning of his career with the sale of the Benetti built Nabila, now Kingdom 5-KR. Originally built for Saudi billionaire Adnan Khashoggi, the 85.65 metre vessel was once one of the largest yachts in the world. Beckett states, “I was 29 years old at the time, so it was a daunting task to evaluate the yacht and come up with the right asking price.” He continues, “We sent out 300 brochures and a few days later Donald Trump phoned up. He asked me to go to see him and the rest is history.” The vessel was sold for around $30,000,000 - a comparative $15,000,000 rise from the company’s previous largest deal and testament that Burgess was absolutely living up to the company’s slogan of “Specialists in the sale, purchase and charter of large yachts.”
Read the full article, in which Jonathan talks about the Burgess business model, current projects, and the future of the company, in the current issue of The SuperYacht Times, which you can order here.
