The man who for several years controlled Google, the world’s leading search
engine for information, Eric Schmidt, has emerged as the buyer of the super yacht,
the Alfa Nero.
Schmidt’s bid of US$67 million won the auction to purchase the vessel when his
bid was opened LIVE, before a television audience, supervised by senior
government officials, and authenticated by a team of three eminent citizens.
In accordance with the requirements of both the Antigua and Barbuda government
and multiple US government agencies, sealed bids were submitted by individuals
who first had to clear due diligence checks conducted by the local government and
the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC"). Only three persons
who submitted bids in time were approved by OFAC.
The auction was won after the three bids were unsealed by members of the clergy,
judiciary, and business community, overseen by Antigua and Barbuda’s Auditor
General Dean Evanson, Accountant General Ickford Roberts, and Antigua and
Barbuda’s Port Manager Darwin Telemaque, during the public auction held at the
Department of the Treasury on Friday.
The 81.3-metre Oceanco superyacht was sold for US$67.6 Million, the equivalent
of EC$182.5 million.
In April of this year, the government, through legislation, gained ownership of the
superyacht which is believed to have been owned by an individual, who was
named on an international sanctions list following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Antigua and Barbuda Government listed the yacht as abandoned, posing a
serious environmental risk, and placed it on the auction block.
Eric Schmidt, the new owner of the Alfa Nero is a software engineer who served
as CEO of Google from 2001 to 2011 and the company’s executive chairman for
four years. His most recent job was Technical Advisor at Alphabet from 2017 to
2020.
Manager of the Antigua and Barbuda Port Authority, Darwin Telemaque during
the auction pointed out that if the new owner does not conclude the winning bid in
seven days, the sale offer will be transferred to the second highest bidder.
In describing the process, Magistrate Dexter Wason said he is satisfied with the
integrity and transparency surrounding the auction and the sealed bidding auction
as this amounted to a process ‘that met the highest judicial standard.’
