Planned Auction for $220M Superyacht 'Royal Romance' Stalls Again for the Strangest Reason

You will surely remember the enthusiastic wave of seizures of luxury assets that followed the first wave of sanctions against Russian oligarchs after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Operating on the belief that cutting the cash flow for Russian oligarchs would discourage President Putin from pursuing the war effort, third-party countries from all over the world began seizing assets.

Superyachts were a favorite. Whatever leisure craft oligarchs couldn't rush off to friendly waters was frozen and/or seized, to much fanfare and plenty of public support. What authorities didn't think of was the next step beyond the seizure, which was – and still is – unprecedented legal ground.

The immediate and very costly consequence of this was that most of those frozen and arrested superyachts became deadweights on the local taxpayer. Russian oligarchs may have been temporarily deprived of their superyachts, but the local taxpayer was paying for their upkeep, storage, and repairs.

This context would have made the planned forced-sale of Royal Romance a success story. Actually, it would have made it the biggest success story ever since only one other seized superyacht was sold at auction, but Royal Romance would have been the only one to benefit Ukraine directly.

This could still happen, but it's looking even farther into the future than before. At the end of last month, ARMA (Ukraine's Asset Recovery and Management Agency), which seized the superyacht with help from the FBI and is now handling the forced auction, announced the winning auction house that would, in due time, organize the sale.

That auction house was Netherlands-based Troostwijk Auctions, which, according to one media outlet, earned the maximum points for transparency, history, and other conditions met.

Troostwijk Auctions had five days to reach out to ARMA to finalize the agreement, before planning for the sale would commence. The auction house expected the vessel to fetch between €100 million and €200 million ($107.3 million and $214.5 million at the current exchange rate), with the latter amount being its reported building cost.

No auction plans just yet

Despite the optimistic outlook and enthusiastic press statements made by ARMA earlier this year, as it was imagining the impact the sale of Royal Romance would have, it's going to be another while until any of it materializes. All plans have stalled, as Troostwijk Auctions has not been able to finalize the deal within the specified timeframe.

As per the same report, this would have been the most expensive asset ever sold through the auction house, and there's the implication that they did all they could to wrap it up in due time. "We have been in intensive contact with ARMA recently. However, we have not been able to start negotiations within the set period to enter into an agreement for this auction," says a rep.

ARMA is yet to comment on the latest snag in the proceedings, but the fact that this seems to have been an oversight on its part is shocking – in contrast to the statements of earlier this year. Force-selling a superyacht seized from a sanctioned individual would have been a time-consuming and complicated process either way, but it looks like it's turning out to be twice so.

More details on Royal Romance

For superyacht watchers, the latest development in this international drama brings – at the very least – more details on a build that had been, until now, completely shrouded in secrecy.

Royal Romance was delivered in 2015 by Feadship to the "dark prince of Ukrainian" politics Viktor Medvedchuk, a known Putin ally and, as of 2022, a refugee in Russia. Like most oligarchs, Medvedchuk could very well afford to pay for the superyacht without having to resort to chartering it to cover annual expenses, so that also meant he got to keep all prying eyes away.

The proceedings for the auction have revealed certain details about the build that have been, until now, closely guarded from the public. For instance, the 92.5 meters (303.5 feet) superyacht features exterior design and naval architecture by De Voogt Naval Architects, while the interiors are by Seymour Diamond.

Accommodation onboard is for 14 guests and 22 crew (which had been speculated before), while amenities include a spacious owner's deck with everything from a library and a saloon to a private office and his-and-hers everything, like bathrooms and wardrobes. A children's stateroom is also available on this deck.

Royal Romance boasts the usual laundry list of amenities you'll find on most superyachts with this kind of price tag. There's a cinema, a gym, a large swimming pool and several jacuzzis, a sauna and spa area, and even a cosmetology treatment room, which must sound like heaven to all beauty freaks out there.

Power comes from twin MTU engines that take the superyacht to a top speed of 18.5 knots (21.2 mph/34.2 kph). Not that they'll do much good right now: while in perfectly functioning order, Royal Romance has been stuck in Croatia ever since the day it was arrested in 2022.