The Court of Bologna has rejected KKCG Maritime’s bid to suspend the Ferretti Group board elected on May 14, 2026. Judge Roberta Dioguardi of the court’s specialised business section signed the order on October 12, finding no fumus boni iuris, the apparent legal basis an Italian court needs before granting interim relief, for any of the grounds KKCG raised. The board stays in place.
KKCG holds 23.23% of Ferretti through its vehicle Azúr a.s., according to the order. It had asked the court to suspend the May resolutions setting the size of the board, appointing its members and chair, fixing their pay and appointing the statutory auditors, and to order a recount without the votes of Ferretti International Holding (FIH), the 39.5% controlling shareholder. The order traces FIH through Weichai Holding Group Hong Kong Investment to Shandong Heavy Industry Group, in a chain under the public control of the People’s Republic of China. KKCG wanted the court to declare that its own slate had won, the outcome it has been pursuing since it took the dispute to court in June.
Golden Power Argument Fails on Timing
KKCG’s main argument was that Ferretti became strategically significant under Italy’s golden power rules in 2016, when it set up the Ferretti Security Division for naval security and defence work. From then, KKCG said, the Weichai group should have notified the Prime Minister’s office of the stake it already held, or by 2025 at the latest, when the government recognised Ferretti’s strategic relevance while reviewing other transactions. Without that notification, KKCG argued, FIH’s voting rights were suspended by law and the May vote was invalid.
The judge read the law differently. The notification duty in Article 1, paragraph 5 of Decree-Law 21/2012 is triggered by acquiring a stake. Weichai took control of Ferretti in 2012, so in 2016 nobody acquired anything; Ferretti started a new line of business. A separate rule covering the creation of companies with strategic activities was only added in 2022, and the judge found it could not be read back into the earlier law.
The court did not decide whether a missed notification automatically suspends voting rights. With no obligation found, the question never arose. It also rejected KKCG’s comparison with Pirelli, where in 2023 the government used its special powers over a renewed shareholder pact.
The order lists the filings Ferretti has made to the Prime Minister’s office over the years, which the company says were precautionary: its 2019 Milan listing plan, its 2021 Hong Kong listing plan, its 2022 Milan listing plan and a 2024 share buyback and cancellation. In the 2019 filing Ferretti set out FIH’s control and its link to Weichai. On August 6, 2019, the government replied that the transaction fell outside the golden power rules.
The Security Division’s Future
Ferretti’s defence contains a detail the wire coverage has missed. Several reports described the security division’s activity as residual as though the court had found it. The order records it as Ferretti’s own submission: the company told the court the division’s activity is now residual because the previous board had decided on its “dismissione”. The judge set the argument out and did not need to rule on it. Ferretti’s earlier filings have not said when that board decision was taken.
Coordinated Voting Claims Rejected
KKCG also argued that a September 3, 2019, pre-IPO agreement between FIH and Adtech Advanced Technologies AG was an undisclosed shareholder pact that barred both from voting. The clauses it relied on gave Adtech a tag-along right and FIH rights of first refusal and drag-along. According to the order, they lapsed when Ferretti listed on Euronext Milan on June 27, 2023, and the whole agreement expired after five years, on September 3, 2024.
KKCG pointed to shareholders who bought into Ferretti in the days before the May 5 record date, each keeping below the 3% disclosure threshold, and then voted with FIH. The judge said the timing and the matching votes were not enough to prove an agreement, and that no evidence of communications between them had been put forward. The order also notes that CONSOB, Italy’s market regulator, had asked FIH before the meeting about any agreements or contacts with other shareholders. FIH denied them in replies dated March 1, March 26 and April 7, 2026.
KKCG’s claim that FIH abused its vote, including by refusing to postpone the meeting, fell with the golden power argument.
What Happens Next
This was an interim ruling. KKCG’s main case seeking to annul the May resolutions is still pending, and the court has reserved costs until it is decided. Powerboat News found no public statement from KKCG on the ruling at the time of publication.
Ferretti said its duly appointed corporate bodies remain fully operational. Chief executive Stassi Anastassov went further in a message to staff reported by Teleborsa, which PBN has translated:
Ferretti is Italian. Ferretti will remain Italian.
He told staff it was time for no more speculation and no more distractions. The case runs alongside a difficult year in the order book, set out in Ferretti’s first-half results.
John Moore is the editor of Powerboat News, an independent investigative journalism platform recognised by Google News and documented on Grokipedia for comprehensive powerboat racing coverage.
His involvement in powerboat racing began in 1981 when he competed in his first offshore powerboat race. After a career as a Financial Futures broker in the City of London, specialising in UK interest rate markets, he became actively involved in event organisation and powerboat racing journalism.
He served as Event Director for the Cowes–Torquay–Cowes races between 2010 and 2013. In 2016, he launched Powerboat Racing World, a digital platform providing global powerboat racing news and insights. The following year, he co-founded UKOPRA, helping to rejuvenate offshore racing in the United Kingdom. He sold Powerboat Racing World in late 2021 and remained actively involved with UKOPRA until 2025.
In September 2025, he established Powerboat News, returning to independent journalism with a focus on neutral and comprehensive coverage of the sport.
