Daedalus Yachts acquired Farrier Marine Group in New Zealand. Terms were not disclosed.
Farrier builds the F-22 folding trimaran designed by company founder Ian Farrier. A statement said discussions of a production partnership began three years ago between Farrier and Daedalus’ Michael Reardon.
“Ian and I reached a deal in principle just before his sudden and untimely death in December 2017,” Reardon said in the statement. “Those talks then evolved into an outright purchase of the brand and assets, which will continue to be managed from Christchurch by Rob Densem, general manager of Farrier Marine.”
Reardon added that he had “huge respect” for Farrier and his 40-year history of designing multihulls. “Early designs such as the Trailer Tris of the late 1970s were revolutionary. His 18-foot design was put into production in the USA and Australia, where it won Australian Boat of the Year in 1981,” Reardon said.
“Ian was responsible for more than 3,000 sailing multihulls afloat today,” he added. “His designs were continually evolving game-changers in the world of multihulls, and are safe, affordable and beautifully engineered performance trimarans.”
The boats will be built at Farrier’s Christchurch facility and Daedalus’ superyacht operation in Edenton, N.C. Daedalus builds an 80-foot catamaran that Reardon says is the world’s first hydrogen-powered yacht.
“Working with Daedalus Yachts will give us a secondary production facility to complement the Christchurch one, and to increase production of the F-22,” Densem said in the statement. “There is international high demand for F-22s, so we have an order backlog and will reduce this much more quickly with help from our team in North Carolina.”
