Azimut-Benetti joins forces with the Saudi fund Pif-Corriere.it

Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund which manages assets worth 650 billion dollars, joins the Azimut-Benetti group, the world’s largest manufacturer of motorized pleasure boats, founded by Paolo Vitelli. The Saudi fund will enter with a 33% share of the share capital, which will thus join the 59% of the Vitelli family – which maintains extensive control of the group – and Tamburi Investment Partners (already a shareholder for over eight years) which reduces the stake from 12 to 8%, realizing an important capital gain . The operation – explains the company in a note – “will be completed with the favorable outcome of the filing antitrust and regulatory”.

Comments

«It is a new chapter of strategic development, in line with what our group has done since its inception», comments the president of the group Giovanna Vitelli. «As with the previous minority transactions, this one will also open up new opportunities. The financial strength of Pif and the synergies with other sectors will be able to support us in both the dimensional and technological growth of the company». President Vitelli says that there have been several suitors to become a minority in the group in recent months, including other investment funds. «PIF was chosen because it is a fund that wants to stay in this strategic alliance for a long time: it doesn’t come for a financial transaction». Not only. “The arrival of the Saudi fund is also a stimulus for management – continues Vitelli – so as to allow for a further leap, to prepare for the new phase, that of a large and consolidated company”.

The two realities

Azimut-Benetti builds over 45 models of yachts and megayachts, has more than 2,200 direct employees (to which must be added those of related industries), six shipyards and a network of 138 sales and service outlets worldwide. According to the annual ranking «Global Order Book 2023» — edited by the specialized magazine Boat International — Azimut-Benetti took first place in the category of yacht builders over twenty-four meters (for the twenty-third consecutive year) with 168 projects to be completed. The value of production in the fiscal year September 2022-August 2023 for the Italian company is 1.2 billion euro and in the meantime the order book has been increased up to 2027, which covers the entire range of boats between 12 and 110 metres. At the beginning of 2023, the Public Investment Fund was the sixth sovereign wealth fund by asset value. A few days ago the governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan anticipated that PIF aims to go from 650 to a trillion in 2025 and to 2-3 trillion in 2030. Saudi Arabia plans to build several ports in the coming years as part of the tourism investments.