Sept. 7 (Bloomberg) -- L. Dennis Kozlowski, the imprisoned former Tyco International Ltd. chief executive officer, found a buyer for his historic 130-foot sailing yacht, the Endeavour.

Sempervirens Ltd. agreed to pay $13.1 million for the British-built yacht, according to court papers filed in New York. The original asking price was more than $17 million.

The sale will help Kozlowski, 59, pay $167 million in court- ordered restitution and fines as he serves a sentence of 8 1/3 to 25 years for looting Tyco. The former CEO has been trying for more than a year to sell the vessel, a 1934 America's Cup entry and celebrity craft in the yachting world.

``Someone would buy the boat for the same reason they would buy John F. Kennedy or Jackie O memorabilia,'' said Marcia J. Whitney of J Class Management Inc., whose president restored the Endeavour and has been chartering it to customers for private trips. ``It's all about history.''

State Supreme Court Justice Martin Shulman, presiding over Kozlowski's assets, gave the former executive permission to proceed with the sale in a court order filed Aug. 14 that included terms of the transaction.

The papers didn't describe the purchaser except to say it is linked to M&C Corporate Services Ltd. in Grand Cayman. Kozlowski attorney Stephen Kaufman of New York declined to comment, as did Erin Ackor of Miami, a lawyer for Sempervirens.

America's Cup

The Endeavour, a so-called J-Class vessel, was built for British aviation pioneer and yachtsman Thomas Sopwith to compete in the 1934 America's Cup, according to the Web site of the J Class Association.

The craft didn't win the cup. It did win many races and admirers, the yachting group says.

Elizabeth Meyer, president of Newport, Rhode Island-based J Class Management, found the Endeavour in England in 1984, the J Class Association said. Meyer spent five years and $10 million to restore the yacht before selling it to the Tyco chief executive for $15 million in 2000, when he was one of the world's highest-paid executives.

When Meyer found the vessel in England, it hadn't been sailed in almost half a century, the association said. She had a building constructed around the boat because it was too fragile to be moved. The rebuilt yacht sailed again for the first time in 1989, the group said.

10 in J-Class

Only 10 J-Class boats were built, the association said. Most were destroyed in World War II because the lead in their keels was needed for munitions, Whitney said. Endeavour is one of three that survived.

According to the unsigned agreement between Sempervirens and Kozlowski, the company had the right to conduct a sea trial of the Endeavour before Aug. 25. It then had seven days to accept or reject the vessel. Court papers don't say whether the sale is moving ahead.

Five paintings and a model on the Endeavour, described in the papers as ``of minimal financial value'' aren't part of the proposed sale and will go to Kozlowski's daughter, Cheryl Kozlowski, the agreement says.

``No one truly owns Endeavour,'' Kozlowski once said, according to the J Class Association. ``She's a part of yachting history. I'm delighted to be the current caretaker.''

The Endeavour has been available for charter through J Class Management. According to the company's Web site, an eight-hour trip for 20 guests costs $15,500. A one-week charter is $65,000. The Endeavour has sleeping accommodations for eight guests and sails with a crew of eight or nine.

Convicted in 2005

`Boats are impractical possessions to begin with, but this one is particularly impractical,'' said Harry Munns, a Los Angeles-based boating expert. ``There aren't that many people that could or would own a boat like that for their personal pleasure.''

Kozlowski and Mark Swartz, 46, Tyco's former chief financial officer, were found guilty in June 2005 on state charges they stole some $150 million from Tyco through unauthorized bonuses and forgiven loans. They also were convicted of gaining hundreds of millions more through securities fraud.

They are in medium-security New York state prisons, Kozlowski in the Mid-State Correctional Facility in Marcy and Swartz at the Oneida Correctional Facility in Rome.

In addition to the yacht, Kozlowski's lavish former lifestyle included a Fifth Avenue apartment with a famous $6,000 shower curtain, property on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, and a $2.1- million Roman-themed, 40th birthday party for his wife, Karen, on the Mediterranean island Sardinia.

Karen Kozlowski, 45, filed for divorce this summer. A petition filed in Florida asked for equal distribution of the couple's assets.

Tyco, nominally based in Bermuda and operating out of West Windsor, New Jersey, makes products including electrical components, telecommunications systems, fire protection devices and security systems. It is being split into three companies next year to make security, health-care and electronics products.

To contact the reporter on this story: Karen Freifeld in New York at kfreifeld@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 7, 2006 14:42 EDT