The M/Y Somnio – a 222m ‘Yacht Liner’ marketed as ‘the world’s biggest superyacht’ – is the brainchild of Australian investor Carl Le Souef, 62, who has been planning the boat’s construction since 2007
An tycoon involved in a £400m scheme to build the ‘world’s biggest superyacht’ has been sued by the British team who designed the vessel for not paying his bills.
M/Y Somnio, a 222m ‘Yacht Liner’ marketed as “the world’s biggest superyacht,” is the brainchild of Carl Le Souef, 62, an Australian investor who has been planning the boat’s design and construction since 2007. Billed as an “unprecedented feat of design and engineering, set to change the course of ultra-luxury travel forever,” the vessel was intended to be a cross between a floating “six-star hotel” and a private superyacht.
It was joint-funded by 39 super-rich by each buying one of the customisable cabin “apartments” on board. British architecture superyacht specialist Winch Design began working on the groundbreaking project in 2019, at which point the company “was very excited about its potential involvement” with Somnio – which takes its name from the Latin “To dream”.
The giant yacht was touted in various luxury lifestyle magazines to be launching in 2024 – but with the deadline missed and the yacht yet to set sail, Winch have successfully sued Mr Le Souef personally for £733,750 over unpaid bills for design work it carried out in 2021. The website for the Somnio project describes the boat as being “purposefully designed to offer the right balance between generous spaces for the community to enjoy and private residences to call home”.
The promotional burb continued: “Somnio is being built by Norwegian shipyard VARD, a subsidiary of the Italian shipbuilding giant, Fincantieri. Somnio’s service standards will include the amenities and service of a six-star hotel, including full concierge services for both onboard and land-based needs: two restaurants with al fresco dining, a spectacular 10,000 bottle wine cellar and tasting room, a top deck lounge and library, a casual sports bar, the Connoisseur Club with fine liquors and a wide range of cigars, a café-style marketplace for the purchase of daily produce, a movie theatre, a state-of-the-art spa, world class medical and fitness facilities, the onboard beach club with watersports equipment and boats.”
Explaining the case at London’s High Court, Judge Lesley Anderson KC said: “This is a dispute about an ambitious project…to build a luxury yacht, comprising several single, luxurious, residential apartments, which is intended to be one of the largest and most luxurious yachts ever to be built. The claimant, Winch Design Limited, is an English company that provides design services in relation to the manufacture of, amongst other things, luxury yachts.
“The defendant, Mr Le Souef, is an entrepreneur and businessman and an Australian national. There is some disagreement over his true net worth or at least how that was projected to Winch. According to Mr Le Souef, the total estimated cost of the project is $500 million (£400m)…According to its accounts for the year ended 30 June 2021, Somnio had raised $760,000 for the project’s initial research and feasibility costs.”
The judge explained that Winch had signed a contract with Mr Souef in 2021, under which he agreed to pay the company £5.25m for their design work on the yacht. The work and payments were to take place in phases and instalments. But whilst Winch’s first invoice under the contract of £200,000 was paid in April 2021, the judge said the next three invoices for a total of £733,750 issued between April and May 2021 were not paid, leading Winch to eventually cease work on the project.
After still not being paid almost four years later, the company has now sued Mr Souef for its money. Mr Souef fought the demand on various grounds, claiming amongst other things that he was not personally responsible to pay, and that a senior figure at Winch had agreed not to sue for payment of their bills, having been told that Mr Le Souef needed time to raise more funds over a fish dinner at Lucio’s restaurant in Chelsea.
He claimed he was promised that “Winch would not demand payment, or institute legal proceedings, in respect of the disputed invoices until Somnio had secured sufficient third-party funding in respect of the construction of the yacht.” But ordering Mr Le Souef to pay up, the judge said that the contract made it clear that he was personally responsible for the payment and rejected his account of the restaurant meeting and the alleged agreement not to sue. He also backed Winch’s decision to down tools, pointing out that the contract gave them the right to do so.
Judge Anderson said: “I am satisfied on the evidence I have heard, especially in light of his cagey approach to his cross-examination on the point, that Mr Le Souef was presented as being a man of some wealth and that at the relevant time the project was a lifestyle project for him and his supporters. I am satisfied that the disputed invoices are accrued debts under the terms of the contract.
“I have found that there was no promise or assurance on the part of Winch to forebear seeking payment of the disputed invoices. Winch was not obliged to provide any services by any fixed date where the disputed invoices had not been paid… accordingly there is no breach of contract by Winch. Winch has substantially performed the contract by providing services, including recruiting and assigning a team to work on the project, supplying drawings and making presentations.
“I agree with the broad submission made that the real substantive reasons for the delay to the project were Mr Le Souef’s inability to finance it and problems liaising with the shipyard, and that Winch did use its reasonable endeavours to meet the performance dates specified in the timetable in the contract. For all of these reasons, it seems to me that Winch is entitled to an order against Mr Le Souef that he is indebted to Winch in the sum of £733,750.
The judge dismissed Mr Le Souef’s counterclaim.
