Born in Turin on October 26, 1960, Massimo Perotti was nonetheless finding out Economics on the College of Turin when he started his yachting profession at Azimut-Benetti Group in 1984. Working intently with the late Paolo Vitelli, founding father of Azimut-Benetti, Perotti spent twenty years on the firm, the place he joined the Board of Administrators and have become CEO of Azimut.
In 2005, he acquired Sanlorenzo, the storied Italian shipyard based in 1958. Now Govt Chairman of Sanlorenzo SpA – which additionally consists of the Bluegame and Nautor Swan manufacturers, and the Simpson Marine dealership – Perotti has overseen the corporate’s development from EUR 42 million in income in 2004 to EUR 930 million in 2024.
How did you get pleasure from this yr’s Sanlorenzo Elite Weekend in Phuket, the place you engaged with yacht homeowners and the Sanlorenzo Asia Pacific workforce?
The primary Sanlorenzo Elite Weekend was an amazing expertise for us, and for me personally, as I had the prospect to satisfy Sanlorenzo yacht homeowners from throughout Asia in an exquisite setting.
With 11 yachts and 60 friends and their associates attending, this occasion was a really particular alternative to spice up and strengthen the Sanlorenzo values and DNA – made up of craftmanship, innovation, class and high quality – in a really relaxed and quiet setting, permitting us to spend high quality time collectively sharing our yachting experiences.
Having accomplished the acquisition of Simpson Marine in 2024, how are you progressing with integrating the corporate and growing Sanlorenzo Asia Pacific?
We wish Sanlorenzo, Nautor Swan and Bluegame to have a world attain and world branding all through the Asia-Pacific area. I believe Asia-Pacific would be the market with essentially the most development within the subsequent 10 years.
I made a decision to purchase Simpson Marine as a result of Sanlorenzo is totally different from different builders. We personal Sanlorenzo Americas and the distribution in America. We personal Sanlorenzo Med, with workplaces in Monaco, Cannes, Palma de Mallorca and Malta. After shopping for Simpson Marine, we personal the distribution throughout Asia-Pacific. We’re the one shipyard doing this – so buying Simpson Marine was very a lot in our DNA.
What are your hopes for markets resembling Australia and Vietnam, the place Sanlorenzo opened new workplaces late final yr?
Sanlorenzo Asia Pacific’s workplace opening in Sydney additionally represented an essential milestone for Bluegame, which debuted in Australia with the model’s bestselling BGX63. Our growth into Vietnam, with the opening of a showroom in Ho Chi Minh Metropolis in collaboration with O2H2O Vietnam final December, was additionally a strategic transfer, offering entry to the rising luxurious market and the elite within the area.
Vietnam’s financial growth and the rising variety of high-net-worth people create a novel alternative for us to supply our lovely yachts, addressing the wants of an increasing and extra prosperous clientele.
Within the APAC area, innovation and new expertise are main development drivers, as is the demand for extra superior navigation programs. These are traits of Sanlorenzo yachts, along with class, craftsmanship, luxurious and ‘Made in Italy’ type.
Why did you purchase Nautor Swan final yr and the way does it match into the Group’s rising portfolio of yacht manufacturers?
Nautor Swan builds merchandise we’ve by no means constructed and couldn’t construct. As the long run is about sustainability, Nautor Swan caters for this with its sailboats, whereas Sanlorenzo is pioneering inexperienced expertise utilizing methanol and hydrogen.
Additionally, Sanlorenzo and Nautor Swan are related in a number of methods – we produce a choose variety of boats at a premium worth for a membership of connoisseurs. We give attention to relationships, high quality, reliability, class and a spotlight to element. We have now so much in widespread.
I believe the acquisition represents a giant assist for Nautor Swan when it comes to industrialisation and analysis and growth, benefitting from the technological developments already in place at Sanlorenzo.
What had been the takeaways from Bluegame’s involvement within the thirty seventh America’s Cup?
The BGH-HSV (hydrogen help vessel) was designed by a workforce of specialists, led by Luca Santella, and adopted the strict necessities of the America’s Cup Protocol. The boats are powered solely by hydrogen, with zero emissions, and have a variety of 180 miles. They had been in a position to fly on foils at 50 knots alongside American Magic and Orient Specific groups on the racecourse in Barcelona.
We’re now utilizing our expertise of constructing these boats to develop a 20m Bluegame multihull, our first hydrogen-hybrid boat, combining the hydrogen expertise from the America’s Cup tenders with Volvo’s first IPS hybrid engine. And from our foiling expertise, we’re constructing Bluegame’s new BGF line of foiling catamarans, ranging from 35 to 55ft.
You’re the proprietor of the primary Sanlorenzo 50Steel, Almax, which makes use of inexperienced methanol and fuel-cell expertise to provide electrical energy and energy the lodge load. Why was the completion of this yacht so emotional for you?
I’m now 64. I believe again over 40 years to my first boat present, in Genoa. I used to be 23 and didn’t know something about boating. I met Mr Vitelli, who was the founder and head of Azimut at the moment, earlier than he purchased Benetti [in 1985]. I admired him as one of the vital essential entrepreneurs within the yachting business. From then till now, I’ve beloved innovation in boating.
At Sanlorenzo, after I thought that we might – for the primary time within the historical past of yachting – construct a ship that might produce electrical energy with out carbon emissions, with simply water going again into the ocean, I assumed this was one thing very, very particular. It was like a dream that anticipated the long run.
I first had the concept on August 12, 2021, simply after the Covid-19 pandemic. I used to be on vacation and began pondering – as I often do after a number of sleep and recharging, about a number of new concepts. I used to be speaking with a Swiss shopper and buddy who was very targeted on the adjustments in climate, air pollution and related subjects. He mentioned: “Max, you retain going with these massive yachts, producing carbon and consuming power. Why don’t you do one thing about this drawback?”
At the moment, my daughter Cecilia was with me. She prefers sailboats to motorboats, and she or he mentioned to me: “Dad, I believe he’s proper. We’re doing nothing about this drawback.” The mix of my buddy and my daughter pushed me to start out pondering, so I requested my Analysis and Growth division about attainable options.
After a few days, they defined the potential of utilizing gas cells. They instructed me that Siemens Vitality – who we had been working with on diesel-electric expertise – was the biggest fuel-cell builder, however primarily for navy functions like submarines.
Siemens Vitality was in a position to carry hydrogen on submarines however had but to work out easy methods to do it on yachts. Then it discovered an answer utilizing ‘inexperienced’ methanol [also known as renewable methanol or bio-methanol], reworking it to hydrogen after which to power by the gas cell, which is a confirmed expertise.
We agreed with Siemens to construct the primary 50Steel with that system – which is unique to Sanlorenzo – and show to the world that this expertise is feasible. Later in 2021, we outlined our ‘Highway to 2030’ and I’m proud to say we’re consistent with the targets we set.
At Boot Düsseldorf this yr, you outlined your partnership with MAN to develop bi-fuel propulsion utilizing each methanol and diesel, for use on the 50X-House scheduled for 2027. Why are you so enthusiastic about this expertise?
I personal Almax, so if a buyer asks if they will discover methanol on just a little island in Greece, I’ve to say that it’s not at all times that straightforward. Though the producers and the expertise are able to construct full methanol engines, methanol will not be at all times out there now to non-public yacht homeowners attributable to logistics.
Nonetheless, if in case you have a bi-fuel engine, you should use diesel for gas whenever you don’t have methanol. It permits flexibility. By way of accessibility, price and productiveness, I imagine the usage of inexperienced methanol mixed with the bi-fuel engine for propulsion and full methanol turbines is the perfect resolution for the following few years.
We determined to make use of methanol for the bi-fuel engine as a result of it’s one of the vital promising options for the way forward for maritime transport. It’s a liquid at ambient temperature, biodegradable and simple to deal with. It additionally doesn’t require devoted infrastructure, solely the difference of current amenities.
Moreover, if produced from renewable sources, inexperienced methanol is a carbon-neutral gas consistent with our net-zero targets. Sooner or later, we are able to transfer to full methanol engines when it’s extra available. The variety of vessels with inexperienced methanol engines and ‘inexperienced corridors’ for its use are rising, particularly in Northern Europe, the place inexperienced methanol is offered for passenger ships. It’s already out there in over 100 ports globally.
Why are you so dedicated to sustainable expertise?
After I think about the way forward for the boating business, I take into consideration the younger generations who’re very delicate about sustainability and wish to swap to greener options quickly. And with superyachts, you have got a number of social duty to be sustainable, so we predict it’s our obligation.
Conserving this in thoughts, entrepreneurs like me are chargeable for anticipating the wants of the shoppers by growing new applied sciences. Relating to sustainability, we should lead the market and present the way in which.
To take action, we should establish the proper companions, prepared to alter the foundations of the sport. This occurred for us with Siemens Vitality for the gas cell mission on the 50Steel, and MAN for the bi-fuel engine on the 50X-House. All of us share the identical imaginative and prescient for a cleaner approach to be at sea.
Additionally, whenever you’re working in an organization that’s a frontrunner within the enterprise and also you’re identified out there to be an innovator, folks with new modern concepts come to you as a result of they know you’re open to such ideas.
As an illustration, the 50Steel Almax is stuffed with innovations. Folks know the boat for the gas cell expertise, however the boat has different very particular improvements, such because the hidden engine room (HER) system. The one that registered the patent, one in all my technicians, got here to me with this concept of shifting the engine room down a ground, which might create yet another saloon. I’m good at understanding if an concept is nice or unhealthy. If it’s good, I bounce on it with a number of power.
Over time, Sanlorenzo has launched many groundbreaking yacht designs. What do you imagine have been the important thing ones?
Innovation has been on the coronary heart of Sanlorenzo since I purchased the corporate. I give it some thought constantly. However first, I’ll take you again to after I was at Azimut-Benetti and made two essential innovations.
After I was 32, I invented the glueing of the window to the superstructure, as an alternative of utilizing steel to hitch them. It was essential as a result of it meant you might make different-shaped home windows on smaller, mass-production boats. Then, after I was 42, I created the Azimut 68 with opening hull home windows on either side, an concept that was then adopted by different manufacturers.
Quickly after, I left for Sanlorenzo, which was a top-quality model, producing yachts as much as 100ft or 120ft in fibreglass. I wanted a brand new concept to seize the eye of the market. Beginning with a 40m yacht in aluminium or steel, I wished one thing glamorous, so we invented the terrace by the saloon and the principle cabin, one other revolution for our sector, once more then adopted by different manufacturers.
A few decade in the past, one other invention was the 42m 460GT explorer (460EXP), which debuted in 2015 and was the primary mannequin in a brand new product line that now has the 47m 500EXP. One other key growth has been the uneven design, beginning with the SL102A planing yacht in 2018.
Possibly essentially the most well-known is our SX line, with a completely new design that actually modified the paradigm of the market. We invented SX with our technical workforce after the massive monetary disaster from 2008 till 2013, which actually broken the enterprise. It was a really unhealthy time, so we sat across the desk with no market, nothing to do, and requested what would prospects need after this disaster? What sort of merchandise ought to we make that can match future calls for?
The monetary turbulence had rid the market of shoppers who purchased boats to point out off, not as a result of they beloved the ocean. Our prospects wished to spend time near the ocean, have water toys and play within the water, so we invented the lengthy open aft deck, as an alternative of a 1.2m swim platform. On the SX yachts, the aft deck can carry a giant tender, which might be put into the water and go away a giant terrace by the ocean.
We additionally angled the windscreen ahead, to create extra indoor top and house for the grasp cabin on the principle deck. Little by little, we invented a brand new boat. At the moment, SX remains to be the corporate’s most worthwhile line.
What else makes Sanlorenzo stand out from different shipyards?
We’re understated. It could appear stunning to think about a shipyard constructing superyachts as understated, however it’s true. Fashions in Sanlorenzo’s Yacht Division (the SL, SD, SX and SP fibreglass collection from 24-40m) don’t show the mannequin’s identify on the facet of the yacht.
Our prospects don’t like the dimensions displayed on their boat. They’re like a membership of connoisseurs, yachtsmen with expertise. They purchase a Sanlorenzo yacht as a result of it’s understated. It’s properly constructed, very strong and custom-made – we name it ‘made to measure’ – plus it retains a really excessive resale worth.
Our yachts are heavier than our rivals’ boats, which suggests much less velocity and possibly much less sporty, however rather more strong. Should you open the door of a Mercedes or really feel the seats compared to a BMW or Audi – each superb high quality – the Mercedes is a step above.
A few of our rivals are producing lots of of boats yearly. We construct 70 a yr. The shortage is a part of the luxurious understatement and our homeowners like that. I believe each model has its personal peculiarity. Sanlorenzo’s DNA stands on the pillars of high quality, class, reliability, craftsmanship, shortage of product and quiet luxurious. I believe these qualities make us distinctive.
Sanlorenzo is a really design-oriented shipyard and companions with main artwork festivals, exhibitions and galleries. How do you mix your help of artwork along with your yacht designs?
Design was the primary concept after I purchased Sanlorenzo. Originally, the concept was to interrupt with the custom of at all times constructing with cherry wooden and all of the boats trying the identical.
We made a giant splash out there as a result of we introduced in Rodolfo Dordoni, Antonio Citterio, Piero Lissoni (Artwork Director of the corporate since 2018), Christian Liaigre, Patricia Urquiola – all big-name architects and designers with new concepts. It was very straightforward for the market to grasp that Sanlorenzo was on the prime and persevering with to be on the prime with new ideas, together with the improvements of the designers.
Should you do one thing exceptional, folks come to you to search out out extra, so the connection to the design world was computerized. I began to take a look at the artwork world as a result of a number of my prospects had been on this space, and near artwork and design. Seeing our boats filled with artwork was inspiring, we determined to change into a accomplice of the unique artwork present, Artwork Basel, so we had Sanlorenzo VIP lounges on the festivals in Hong Kong, Miami, Basel and Paris.
We’re additionally exhibitors on the Milan Design Week and gained our first Compasso d’Oro award in 2020 for our exhibition design (Sanlorenzo additionally gained in 2024 for the SP110 yacht). In 2022, Sanlorenzo and Valentino had been the principle sponsors of the Italian Pavilion on the Venice Biennale. On that event, I fell in love with Venice and determined to purchase a home in entrance of the Basilica Santa Maria della Salute that can change into the Casa Sanlorenzo.
Who has impressed essentially the most in your life, and who’re you inspiring?
Mr Vitelli and the Vitelli household are primary for me, for positive. He was there firstly of the whole lot. I hope to encourage my son Cesare, who has been working in Sanlorenzo for 4 years. Extra just lately, my daughter Cecilia joined Nautor Swan, despite the fact that she at all times instructed me she would by no means work with me. Now, she has joined the corporate as a result of she needs to work for Nautor Swan.
I actually hope to have the ability to encourage them with my hard-working instance. They understood that if you wish to obtain one thing, it’s essential to work exhausting and actually sweat. Nothing is coming from the sky. It was particularly exhausting work within the Nineteen Eighties as a result of at the moment, the yachting business needed to be created.
At the moment, it’s extra established, so I hope my children gained’t must work as exhausting as me and can take extra time for themselves. Inspiring them is my final massive hope in life and can be my final success. I plan to dedicate a number of my time transferring what I’ve learnt and constructed within the final 40-plus years, first studying from Mr Vitelli.
Nonetheless, I made the choice in 2019 to drift the corporate on the [Italian] inventory alternate so as to not power my youngsters to be managers of the corporate. They will determine whether or not they wish to be managers or simply shareholders, and I believe that’s the perfect freedom.
Photographs courtesy of Sanlorenzo
apac.sanlorenzoyacht.com
simpsonmarine.com
This text was first seen on YachtStyle.com
For extra on the newest in luxurious yachting and chief reads, click on right here.