Give or treat yourself to a subscription to Boats in Motion print + digital and for only 39 euros a year you get the magazine at home plus read it on your PC, smartphone and tablet. With a sea of advantages.
LVMH, the French luxury brand, has set its sights on Riva, the historic Sarnico shipyard now owned by the Ferretti Group. This is not the first time that Bernard Arnault, founder and CEO of LVMH, has set his sights on the nautical world. He had previously tried with Princess, Britain’s Plymouth-based luxury boat builder, which was acquired and then returned a year ago to the hands of KPS Capital Partners, an American private equity fund.
According to rumors circulating in the press, LVMH have made contacts with the Weichai Group, a Chinese state-owned company that has held a majority stake in the Ferretti Group since 2012 with almost 40 percent of the capital, and some Italian partners. It seems that the French strategy is to scale up the Ferretti Group and then segment it and subsequently enhance the value of the brands of greatest interest, such as Riva. According to investment bank Intermonte, Riva is “the brand with the highest value within Ferretti’s portfolio in terms of product positioning and price, as well as the possibility of extending the brand to additional activities beyond yachting.” It should be noted that for the past several years the brand has been expanding into activities well beyond yachting, with a line of gifts and apparel, lounges, bars and clubs around the world, and a recent real estate project in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
There is great movement in the boating world at this time in history. There are many premium shipyards that are changing hands, with acquisitions coming from both investment funds and large luxury groups. Some recent examples are Cantieri del Pardo, acquired by the Calzedonia group in the summer of 2023, and Sunseeker, the iconic British builder of high-performance luxury motor yachts, which a few days ago, during the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show, announced that it had been acquired by the Italian fund Faro Alternative Investments, in partnership with Lionheart capital, a Miami-based investment firm, and with a club deal organized by Orienta.
James Barbaro
Sign up for our Newsletter
Powerboats, its stories, from small open to motoryachts. Sign up now for our free newsletter and receive the best news selected by the editorial staff each week. Enter your email below, agree to the Privacy Policy and click the “sign me up” button.
Jeanneau enters the world of motor catamarans with two models from 10 to 12 meters! Both will be featured at Boot Düsseldorf 2026. Jeanneau motor catamarans If you think you have seen them somewhere before, you are not wrong. They
Christmas can be a great time to think about getting a new boat! And in the magnum sea of presentations one can lose one’s bearings. Here, then, is a review of the most interesting boats to be presented at the
On the occasion of the upcoming boot Düsseldorf 2026, scheduled for January 17-25, the Pesaro-based shipyard will present the world premiere of its latest project, the Santasevera 42. This new model fits into the range by taking up the stylistic
For the first time, we will see a catamaran from Aquila Boats, an American shipyard and world leader in motor catamarans, at the upcoming Düsseldorf Boat Show (Jan. 17-25). While most manufacturers have converted from the sailing world, Aquila started
