After an absence from the Spanish haven, the expat specialist returns to serve Mallorca's yachting elite.

The deVere Group is reopening a Mallorca branch in Portals Nous at the heart of the island’s luxury marina culture. The office will be run by wealth management veteran Michael Jacobs, who moves from deVere Italia in Milan. He will report to Spain’s senior area manager Andrew Oliver in the new role.

DeVere pulled out of the Mallorca market for several years citing problems with recruitment, an issue the group says has now been resolved. The new team's primary focus there will be serving the “vibrant yachting community in and around Portals Nous and Palma,” said regional head Oliver.

“Jacobs has an intimate personal and professional knowledge of this market, being an expat himself for many years and having lived around some of the world’s best-known ports and marinas. He is superbly-placed to know the major financial opportunities and potential challenges that exist for internationally focused investors,” Oliver said.

The firm said returning to the hotspot frequented by Europe’s vacationing elite and serving private yacht crews in particular has been made easier by a deeper pool of advisory talent attracted to the island and no shortage of the ultra-wealthy looking for specialist cross-border financial advice.

Yachting and aviation specialists joining wealth management teams and standalone companies catering for the complex lives and high-value acquisitions of the itinerant elite is a trend this publication has seen growing and consolidating in recent years.

Specialists in managing nautical luxury include Edmiston, Fraser Yachts, Northrop & Johnson, and Y.CO. Besides putting would-be owners and charterers in touch with vendors, these firms can advise on where best to register a vessel (the Caymans, Gibraltar, Malta, or the British Virgin Islands for example). They can also manage the important details of value added tax, hiring suitable crews and the gamut of operational activity that comes with owning and enjoying a super-yacht that can cost upwards of $60 million.

When this publication spoke to Zurich-based Ocean Independence, a specialist brokerage house operating worldwide and claiming to be one of the big three providers, the firm’s commercial director described how the culture is shifting and changing this luxury space.

“For the ultra wealthy, there has been a seismic shift from ‘what you own’ to ‘what you do’ over the last five years; life on board a super-yacht allows clients to enjoy the best of these two worlds. The interest of owning, chartering or building a super-yacht is growing in line with the demand for the ultimate in experiential luxury,” said Toby Maclaurin.