Superyachts: Nautor Swan and Sanlorenzo cooperate - Massimo Perotti on the partnership
Martin Hager
· 13.03.2024
Massimo Perotti is one of the most colourful personalities in the superyacht world. He led the Sanlorenzo company to the stock market and is a committed driver of innovative technologies that benefit the entire industry. We met the successful managing director in Düsseldorf for an in-depth interview.
Sanlorenzo had already tried to buy Perini Navi two years ago, but was unsuccessful. The fact that Nautor Swan and Sanlorenzo are aiming for a long-term strategic partnership nevertheless came as a surprise. What kind of connection do you have with Nautor, and are you a sailor yourself?
Like Perini Navi, Nautor is a great brand with many parallels to Sanlorenzo. Nautor has a long tradition, is very design-orientated and delivers yachts of absolute top quality. We are currently carrying out due diligence, which will be completed in about two months. After that, the contract with Leonardo Ferragamo will be finalised, which should really be seen as a partnership thanks to his decades of experience in sailing.
Will there be many synergies between the two brands?
In any case. We can pool our industrial expertise, utilise synergies in purchasing and work closely together in yacht building, service and the sales channel. And Leonardo brings with him all his experience with sailing boats and regattas, as well as his image as one of the most important Italian sailors, and wants to be involved for a long time to come. Swan has a great heritage, just like Sanlorenzo. It is important to preserve and develop this heritage. So we have to bring in innovation, but always preserve the tradition of the brand. Our customers want exactly that: tradition! If you buy a Porsche 911 and you are a Porsche type - in Italy we say Porschista - then you buy a 911. Then you don't buy another Porsche, you buy a 911. The 911 is the example of how Porsche started in 1938. They changed the 911 ten or twelve times, but the 911 always had the same design. So we will be innovative, we will expand the business but keep the tradition. We have a customer base of around 1,000 people, Nautor has a customer base of 2,800.
What exactly is planned?
We will gradually expand into new business areas to improve the company's profitability and grow the business. The sailing yacht market is a niche within a niche, and many sailors in the maxi sector are quite old and eventually switch to motor yachts. So this is where markets and our brands are merging.
We have heard a rumour that your daughter is a sailor and is involved in the deal with Nautor. Is that true?
Yes, that's true. We will dedicate ourselves to Nautor together and still have a lot to learn. At Sanlorenzo, I mainly focus my efforts on the product and on innovation. Especially in the yacht industry, the product is the key to success. When you buy a boat, the decision is made on instinct. It's about passion, about freedom! The first thing you see is the beauty and comfort, then there is the idea of how much freedom this product can offer you. That's the reason for spending so much money.
How is it that your daughter is so interested in sailing?
She taught herself. She is a woman who is very understated and lives as sustainably and ecologically as she can. She has that in common with some of the new customers we see in the industry. This generation really takes the issue of environmental protection seriously and to heart.
Will your daughter be involved in Nautor's business?
Yes, she will. She is very interested in the brand and the fantastic products.
What else do Nautor and Sanlorenzo have in common?
Nautor builds 30 yachts a year, we deliver 80 units. Neither brand favours mass production. Each boat is customised to the customer. Nautor and Sanlorenzo are also characterised by comfort and top quality. Plus: We have customers who are extremely loyal to us. 70 to 80 per cent of our customers buy another boat from us when they are looking for something new. We manage to give our customers a kind of family feeling, they feel at home with us. They have arrived in a club of like-minded people.
Can you also tell us something about the acquisition of Simpson Marine, one of the most important dealers for Sanlorenzo in the APAC region?
This was a logical step. We continue to believe that the Asia-Pacific region, and China in particular, will be the fastest growing part of the world in financial terms. We have already seen impressive growth over the past ten years, albeit mainly in South East Asia. The prospects for the superyacht sector are good, as President Xi Jinping has introduced a new law that makes Hainan Island a tax-free zone. So if you buy a yacht in Hainan now, you save on taxes. In addition, large investments are being channelled into the construction of new marinas between Dakar and Hong Kong. So there are signs of a major opening of the yacht market in China.
What is your assessment of the future of the market?
There are of course a number of geopolitical issues to keep an eye on. We expect the central bank to lower interest rates in the second half of the year. If that happens, it would be a nice, good sign for customers. We don't have the feeling that the market has come to a standstill, but we are noticing that customers are spending money more cautiously than in the very successful years from 2021 to now. You can now work out that the market will have to return to a normal level at some point. But that won't hurt us due to our full order books.
Developing new models is very expensive. Will you continue to bring several new models onto the market each year?
New models are the fuel of our business and we always want to be ahead of the market with our new products, especially in terms of innovation.
