Just a few hours before the opening of the Stockholm International Boat Show "Allt for Sjön" Najad surprised the industry yesterday evening. The shipyard, which is based in Henån in western Sweden, is taking over the company operating east of Stockholm. Arcona Yachts. Here the Announcement in the original wording in English.
The purchase brings together two small but excellent boatbuilding companies whose model programmes complement each other well. Najad stands for luxurious cruising yachts, Arcona for high-quality performance cruisers - and both for Swedish quality.
In an interview with YACHT online, Jörgen Ottosson, Managing Director of Najad, said: "With the acquisition, we are expanding our portfolio, which is now unrivalled. With Arcona, we offer boats that can win ocean races, and with Najad, boats for safe and comfortable ocean passages."
Ottosson emphasised that the aim of the acquisition was not to merge the brands. Rather, both would remain independent.
Arcona boss Torgny Jansson will continue to be in charge of the Gustavsberg shipyard, which his parents founded back in the 1960s (when it was still called "Boo Marin"). The Arcona site in the archipelago east of Stockholm will also be retained. Even the dealer network is to remain in place for the time being.
The connection between the two shipyards came about by mutual request, so to speak. "I can't say who took the initiative," recalls Jörgen Ottosson. "We at Najad were thinking about expansion, and Torgny Jansson wanted to become part of a larger whole with Arcona. It was an ideal match."
In fact, Jansson was probably also concerned with succession planning in the medium to long term. Although the 62-year-old has a daughter, according to YACHT information, she is said to have shown no interest in taking over the family business. This is why the current solution was the obvious choice.
Together with Najad, Arcona Yachts is set to grow significantly in the future. At least that is the plan. "The brand is extremely well respected and successful, particularly in German-speaking countries, England and Scandinavia. However, it has not yet realised its full potential," says Jörgen Ottosson. He now wants to realise this in the network.
After a subdued sales trend in recent years, he is hoping for a noticeable improvement. The signals from the market are very encouraging. "We are already seeing a sharp increase in demand at both Najad and Arcona."
This is the second attempt by Najad investor Håkan Eksandh, whose investment company Hexiron holds a majority stake, to gain a foothold in the performance segment. The 50-year-old had previously acquired Swedestar. However, the merger with Najad ultimately came to nothing. This is probably one of the reasons why Arcona is to remain independent within the group in future.
