Superyacht motor yacht A recently paid a visit to Gibraltar, joining a list of many famous yachts visiting the Rock. Owned by Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko; a 40 year old Russian businessman and billionaire who was born in Belarus.

Rumoured to cost USD $330 million, motor yacht A is called after his wife Aleksandra, it took four years to build and it sits comfortably in the list of top 100 largest yachts in the world at 119metres long. Designed by Philippe Starck and Martin Francis, it was built by German shipbuilders Blohm + Voss, at the HDW shipyard in Kiel, Germany and it weighs approximately 5500 tonnes.

According to Forbes, Mr Melnichenko is reported to be worth USD 10.8 billion and is the World’s 81st richest person, who owns 75% of Russia’s largest independent coal producer, as well as Eurochem; Russia’s largest and one of the top world producers of mineral fertilizers.

He married his partner Aleksandra Nikolic in 2005, in a wedding reception reported to have cost $30 Million USD. For that money there were performances by the late Whitney Houston, Christina Aguilera, and Julio Iglesias. Rumours also said that he had a Russian chapel dismantled, transported and rebuilt in the Cote d’Azur for the wedding. Pics by Bart Van Thienen