It's difficult to miss the
Sanlorenzo stand at the Genoa boat show, running this year from
October 1-6.
There is something imposing about the company's
mega-yachts, yet their metallic and aluminum shells - reflecting
in the harbor water - give the hulks an almost liquid look.
The company, present with a full model range of yachts from
20 to 40 meters, is one Italy's leading, privately held
shipbuilders.
Those lucky enough to get a look inside one of the
builder's boats never come off disappointed.
Sanlorenzo, which traces its origins back some 50 years,
has been on a winning streak of late, earning its ultra-luxury
positioning in the minds of buyers around the world.
The company has come a long way under Chairman and CEO
Massimo Perotti.
When the entrepreneur took over Sanlorenzo in 2005, the
company's sales were approximately 40 million euros; this year
they are expected to be in the range of 200 million euros.
Perotti owns 56 percent of the shipbuilder, founded in
1958; Chinese industrial group Sundiro Holding has a 23 percent
stake and Italian investment fund Fondo Italiano d'Investimento
owns 10 percent.
As with many other Italian firms in the industry (and
across other industries) the company has anchored its present
and future success to international markets.
When Perotti's watch began at Sanlorenzo, more than 80
percent of the company's sales were in Italy, a market that
tanked following the 2008 global financial crisis. Since then,
the company has encountered strong demand from customers in
Russia, Mexico, Germany, Spain, France/Montecarlo and the US,
among others.
In fact, Perotti told Ansa he sees Sanlorenzo sales
increasing by 10 percent per year over the next three years and
says that all of the growth will come from export markets, in
particular the US, Latina America and Russia, countries well out
of the recessionary Mediterranean region.
But while Italy and the Mediterranean may be stagnant in
general, since January this year Sanlorenzo has sold to Italian
buyers five motor-yachts in the 25-30 meter range and has orders
for two more, representing a total of some 33 million euros, the
firm's marketing and communication manager, Mario Gornati, told
Ansa.
While keeping lips sealed on the identity of the buyers,
Gornati said that they are "old money", heirs of industrial
companies with solid fortunes.
It's an important signal, especially considering the mature
market.
"It means that those few ship owners that there are in
Italy who still buy ships buy them from Sanlorenzo."
The firm's customer profile is similar in other countries.
For example, in Mexico, where Sanlorenzo sold eight yachts
over the past couple of years, the buyers are similarly old
money types.
Sanlorenzo produces about 35 ships per year.
And pretty much every unit is custom built, in the truest
sense.
"We are like a tailor, producing made-to-measure yachts,"
Gornati said, pointing out that the interiors of every boat -
even those belonging to the same model line - are completely
different.
This clearly has its costs; Sanlorenzo's prices in general
are about 20% higher than those of its rivals and for some of
the firm's biggest yachts can easily surpass the 50-60 million
euro mark.
In order to match the increased demand for his firms'
ships, Perotti has expanded the group's production presence in
Italy, adding a shipyard in the Tuscan coastal city of Viareggio
to the firm's already existing shipyard in Ameglia near to La
Spezia, both on Italy's west coast, south of Genoa.
Expanded production capability combined with an
increasingly international presence have helped boost Sanlorenzo
to the number two spot globally in builders of yachts over 24
meters, Gornati said, citing US magazine ShowBoats International
Global Order Book 2014.
It's an all made in Italy ranking: the number one spot is
held by Azimut Benetti and the number three spot is held by
Ferretti Group.
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