The purchase of a private plane or yacht is an expensive endeavour. Even for (U)HNWs, making arrangements to finance such purchases can make economic – and bureaucratic – sense.
A specialist aviation and yacht finance adviser can devise bespoke solutions to enable the smooth execution of these purchases, facilitating services such as loans, mortgages and leasing. They can also advise on other financial matters such as taxes, import duties, operation and management.
The aviation and yacht finance advisers featured in this year’s index have expertise in a wide range of financial services. Some offer their clients guidance on the most tax-efficient ways to finalise deals. As private jets and yachts are inherently mobile assets, this can include insight on import duties as well as local and international tax laws.
Another central aspect of the knowledge our top advisers share is their deep understanding of registration and legal matters. The choice of where to officially register an asset like a private jet or a boat – such as strategically deciding which flag the yacht is going to carry – can influence legal frameworks, taxes, administrative duties and type of use (private or commercial).
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This is why many of the advisers featured in this index have extensive experience in different jurisdictions – to ensure they provide clients with all the information they need to make an informed decision about purchasing such assets. ‘The purchase documentation can be very technical, and the financing is very document-heavy,’ adviser Sarah Dyke tells Spear’s.
The best aviation and yacht finance advisers are essential in helping clients structure their financing in the most efficient way. They will often recommend (U)HNWs to consider ownership via trusts, holding companies or other structures, and will support them with managing transactions, arranging loans, negotiating terms and even conducting credit assessments.
This year, Spear’s index of the top aviation and yacht advisers features experts who have access to the most exclusive assets and the most valuable networks across the sector.
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- Methodology
- The best aviation and yacht finance advisers: some names to know
- The best aviation and yacht finance advisers: the complete list
- Contact us
Methodology
Each year, the Spear’s Research Unit reassesses and refreshes its rankings of the leading providers in each sector by gathering data from and about the advisers and firms themselves, assessing submission forms, collating nominations, carrying out peer reviews, reviewing data from third-party sources, gathering references and recommendations, canvassing experts and conducting hundreds of interviews.
Advisers are evaluated using a proprietary scoring system that assigns different weightings to certain attributes. These scores feed directly into each new set of rankings in the Spear’s Indices. Each of these indices are published first online (according to the research calendar) and then in print. Print publication takes the form of the annual Spear’s 500 directory, which includes the top advisers in every index.
[See also: A guide to The Spear’s 500: Everything you need to know]
Each featured adviser is profiled on spears500.com. The site allows users to search the Spear’s database of more than 4,000 entities to find one (or more) to meet their specific requirements by filtering for specific attributes such as an adviser’s location, their specialist expertise and information about their client base.
The best aviation and yacht finance advisers: some names to know
Quentin Bargate
- Focus: Luxury asset contracts, transactions and disputes
- Ranking: Top Flight
- Firm: Bargate Murray
With a background in maritime law and commercial shipping work, Quentin Bargate’s focus on superyachts developed naturally.
‘What led me into doing superyacht-related work was my clients – they bought superyachts, and I followed,’ says Bargate, who founded luxury asset law firm Bargate Murray in 2004.
[IMAGE: 1200 X 800 Asset resizing (28)]Bargate represents clients in arbitration and litigation and advises on purchases and construction agreements (such as a recent $200 million new-build contract) as well as taxation and cross-border issues, from crewing agreements and insurance coverage to flagging.
Read Quentin Bargate’s full profile on Spears500.com
Paul Jebely
- Focus: High-value aviation transactions
- Ranking: Top Flight
- Firm: Sterlington
‘I’m very comfortable to lay claim to being the top private aviation attorney internationally, outside the US, who focuses on just ultra-high-net-worth individuals,’ Paul Jebely tells Spear’s.
The personable lawyer is a cross-border operator, based between Hong Kong, the UAE, and the West Coast of the US. He heads up the international practice of the New York-based firm Sterlington as a partner and vice-chair.
[IMAGE: 1200 X 800 Asset resizing (29)]Primarily, Jebely advises clients – almost exclusively billionaires and leaders in their fields – on the complexities of buying, selling, financing, leasing, owning and operating private jets, as well as resolving related disputes. However, he also acts as a ‘general counsel’ for a discerning group of APAC wealth creators, coordinating their legal relationships across everything from security and staffing to real estate and asset protection.
Read Paul Jebely’s full profile on Spears500.com
Alison Vassallo
- Focus: Yacht acquisitions and sales
- Ranking: Recommended
- Firm: Fenech & Fenech Advocates
For Alison Vassallo, a Fenech & Fenech Advocates partner and head of the firm’s yachting department, being loyal to clients is all-important.
‘There is a personal touch,’ Vassallo tells Spear’s. ‘What I learnt very early on is that clients like to have one point of contact on a project.
‘What is very crucial is that the client, or whoever is representing them, can feel like they can come to you.’
The Maltese firm is renowned for its shipping practice, which is more than 120 years old, and it has built up a striking portfolio of UHNWs. Vassallo explains that clients expect a very high level of service, which her team is ‘very well placed to offer’. Clients can come to Vassallo and seek advice on a range of matters, such as yacht financing, registration and all matters relating to marine litigation.
Read Alison Vassallo’s full profile on Spears500.com
Elliot Bishop
- Focus: Marine dispute resolution
- Ranking: Top Recommended
- Firm: W Legal
Well-known in the luxury asset sector, W Legal consultant Elliot Bishop specialises in litigation and dispute resolution, with a focus on marine and aviation matters, as well as agriculture.
He advises owners and lenders on asset finance disputes, charter disputes and broker commission payments arising from the sale of yachts. Clients have included prominent individuals, billionaires, business leaders and UK coastal marinas.
Bishop moved to W Legal in 2026, after spending three years at Bargate Murray. He tells Spear’s that he was motivated by the full-service nature of his new firm: ‘My existing clients are as loyal as loyal can be, and whilst I concentrate on marine and aviation litigation, some of them have other issues, whether they be commercial or property related – I can connect them with my colleagues in the firm.’
Read Elliot Bishop’s full profile on Spears500.com
Amanda Applegate
- Focus: Whole and fractional aircraft transactions
- Ranking: Recommended
- Firm: Soar Aviation Law
A fascination with aviation led Amanda Applegate into the industry in 1998, soon after she completed her legal studies.
Following roles as a partner at Aerlex and general counsel at NetJets, she co-founded Soar Aviation Law in 2022. Based in Cleveland, Ohio, the firm positions itself as ‘a women-owned law firm specialising in business aviation law’.
Applegate tells Spear’s she particularly enjoys working with HNW clients and corporates who are new to aviation but who have a burgeoning interest in the industry.
‘We pride ourselves on timeliness of response; we only take on so many clients at a time so that we can offer them the ability to talk with us in person and have responses to their questions within 24 to 48 hours.’
Read Amanda Applegate’s full profile on Spears500.com
The best aviation and yacht finance advisers: the complete list
Click on the individual names to be directed to more detailed profiles of each adviser on The Spear’s 500 website. The table is ordered by ranking and then alphabetically by surname.
Contact us
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