Dan Loeb has become a billionaire searching out value in financial markets. Now, he's applying the same skills with yacht buying.
Loeb—founder of the hedge fund Third Point—recently purchased a 200-foot yacht called "April Fool" for between $50 million and $52 million, according to people familiar with the sale. That marked a big discount from the most recent asking price of $59.6 million.
The vessel was sold by Sandy Weill, the former CEO and chairman of Citigroup.
"Dan got a very fair price," said someone familiar with the deal. "It's not a steal. But it's a great buy."
Elissa Doyle, a spokeswoman for Third Point, could not be reached for comment.
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April Fool is widely considered one of the top yachts ever built by Feadship, the famed Dutch shipyard. Launched in 2006, April Fool has a huge master stateroom, a Jacuzzi on the fourth-level sun deck, a sauna, and sprawling outdoor dining lounge.
The yacht first came onto the market in 2011 with a price of $69.5 million. But with a glut of yachts after the financial crisis, April Fool failed to sell. The price then dropped to $59 million last year.
While the exact sale price isn't known, people familiar with the deal say Loeb paid between $50 million and $52 million.
Sources say he has already been enjoying his new boat in the Bahamas.
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The sale also marks the shift of one generation of finance titans to the next. Weill, who built Citigroup throughout the 1980s and 1990s, has largely withdrawn from the world of finance and is downsizing his life. In an interview last year, he said he was selling April Fool because his grandkids had grown up and weren't using it as much for family vacations.
In 2011, he sold his penthouse at the exclusive 15 Central Park West building for $88 million. Loeb also has an apartment in the building.
"I'm trying to simplify," Weill said in the interview. "I think simpler is better."
Loeb, on the other hand, seems to be embarking on his accumulation phase.