Williams Corporation has been heavily promoting the charter of its Super Yacht WW over the past several weeks. Photo / wwyacht.co.nz
Williams Corporation has been heavily promoting the charter of its Super Yacht WW over the past several weeks. Photo / wwyacht.co.nz
Who’s going to snap up a chance to enjoy the summer on the high-flying developer’s superyacht?
High-flying property developer Matthew Horncastle wants to share the good life of boating on the Hauraki Gulf with punters looking for a luxurious cruise this summer.
Williams Corporation, co-founded by Horncastle withBlair Chappell, has been heavily promoting the charter of its superyacht WW for several weeks.
Since July, in between the company’s regular property updates on its Instagram page, there have been posts informing followers the WW is available for charter from $7500 a day.
Williams Corporation was co-founded by Blair Chappell and Matthew Horncastle.
Horncastle, who once showed his personal Instagram followers a private-jet lifestyle mixed with helicopters and luxurious getaways, has changed that up during the property downturn.
Spy hears Horncastle has traded the jets for Air NZ flights when he travels between his multiple developments in New Zealand.
With a savvy eye for investor optics, last year Horncastle sold off a reported $1 million worth of luxury cars.
In January this year the WW, a 26.5m motor yacht with two MTU 1800 HP engines, was listed for sale on Trade Me for $6 million, but with the changing winds in the property market, Horncastle has decided to hold on to the boat.
“With the sentiment that the property market is beginning to have an upswing, I am holding on to the WW and want to share her with boat lovers over the coming summer,” Horncastle tells Spy.
“I hope people will enjoy her as much as my family and friends do.”
Listed at wwyacht.co.nz, the boat by Johnson Yachts boasts an interior styled by the British design house, Dixon Yacht Design.
The yacht comfortably sleeps eight guests in four cabins. On the main level is a luxurious California king master suite that features a his-and-hers bathroom with a bidet and six-jet rainfall shower over a tub.
On the lower level is a VIP king suite along with two queen-size cabins on the port and starboard sides.
All cabins come with entertainment systems, TV screens, and luxurious bathrooms.
Matthew Horncastle says he wants to share WW with boat lovers over the coming summer. Photo / wwyacht.co.nz
A crew of at least three are on hand whether it is a small group wanting to enjoy an overnighter at a 12-hour daily rate of $15,625 or for a party of up to 45 guests.
A party of guests can enjoy alfresco times on the expansive main deck. Inside is a teak-panelled saloon that includes a marble-topped wet bar with an ice maker and fridge.
Chic lounge furnishings face an entertainment area equipped with a 44-inch Sony HD TV and a high-tech Crestron stereo surround sound system.
Towards the front is a formal dining area, providing seating for eight.
Horncastle hopes guests will enjoy the coming boating season whether it is around the Hauraki Gulf, overnights to Waiheke or longer stays for trips away to the Bay of Islands and beyond.
He’s not the only name making boat moves recently.
In June 2023, Kiwi billionaire and Xero founder Rod Drury, estimated to be worth $1.2 billion, acquired a new luxury catamaran, Kokomo One, with Spy learning he was among a group of owners of the vessel.
“I’ve taken her off the market,” he told Spy. “I’m really looking forward to a summer on Olive and taking her overseas next year.”
Henry may be hanging on, but Horncastle’s WW is up for lease, and the property developer has also recently revealed how the company is adjusting to a new chapter of business.
This week in an interview with the Herald property editor, Anne Gibson, Horncastle spoke frankly about Williams Corporation’s navigation of the property market downturn for its investors.
He revealed the firm’s restructuring from 240 staff in New Zealand and Asia to 55 and downsizing the company’s palatial headquarters in Christchurch, returning to a culture that he and Chappell, both 31, enjoyed in their early days.
“We made the call in the economic environment to go into a smaller place,” said Horncastle.
On the Herald’s busiest New Zealand residential builders’ year-to-March listing, sourced by BCI, Williams Corp was sitting at no 11 with 147 housing consents.
Horncastle told Gibson he anticipates house completions for Williams Corp to be between 250 to 350 by March next year.
Ricardo Simich is the Herald’s Spy editor. Based in Auckland he covers all roads that lead to popular culture.
