Expertise should feel effortless.
Started at a single desk, on a frustration.
Elena Marchetti spent ten years inside a traditional Mediterranean brokerage before she left to start Aurelis in 2011. The frustration was specific: buyers were being shown whatever was on the yard’s own books that quarter, not what actually matched their life. Sellers were being told their yacht would move in weeks, then watching it sit, unsold, for a year.
Aurelis began as a rejection of that model — a single advisor, no inventory to push, paid to find the right yacht rather than move the nearest one. Fifteen years later, the team has grown to four senior people and a small partner network, but the operating principle hasn’t changed: we represent the client, not a listing.
What follows is less a company history than a record of when each part of that principle got built.
Fifteen years, built deliberately slowly.
A single desk in Monaco
Elena Marchetti begins brokering yachts independently after a decade inside a traditional Mediterranean brokerage, frustrated by how transactional the industry had become.
First cross-border sale
A 44m explorer sold from a Fort Lauderdale owner to a Singapore-based buyer — proof that a small, senior team could operate credibly across regions without a franchise network.
Technical advisory formalised
Julian Cole joins, bringing naval architecture rigour to due diligence. Survey and sea-trial standards are written down for the first time.
Middle East and Asia-Pacific reach
Marcus Whitfield and a Singapore-based partner network extend active coverage to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Charter-to-ownership formalised
Sofia Almeida builds a dedicated charter advisory, turning what had been an informal referral habit into a structured path toward ownership.
A small team, deliberately
Aurelis represents a limited number of yachts and clients at any time — by design, not by constraint.
Advisory first, transaction second.
Aurelis was built on a simple observation: the yacht market rewards buyers and sellers who are genuinely well-advised, and punishes those who aren't. We stay intentionally small so every client works directly with senior people, not a call centre.
One team, every market.
Rather than a network of independent franchises, Aurelis operates as a single advisory team with active reach across the Mediterranean, Gulf, Americas and Asia-Pacific — coordinated, not fragmented.
Informed by transactions, not headlines.
Our valuation view is built from active deal flow across builders and regions, not published asking prices alone — the two are rarely the same number.
Discretion as a working principle.
Every engagement, buying or selling, begins under the assumption of confidentiality — not as an add-on service, but as how we operate by default.
A small, senior team.
Four people, each of whom has been with Aurelis since the stage of the company that shaped their role — not a rotating cast pulled from a shared talent pool.
Elena Marchetti
Two decades in Mediterranean brokerage before founding Aurelis's global advisory model in 2011.
Marcus Whitfield
Focused on superyacht transactions across the Middle East and Americas since 2020.
Julian Cole
Naval architecture background; leads survey and due-diligence standards for every acquisition.
Sofia Almeida
Built Aurelis's charter-to-ownership advisory, now a formal path for a third of new buyers.