A new bidder has entered the contest for The Italian Sea Group’s sale process. According to International Boat Industry, which broke the story on 7 September, an investor based in Hong Kong has submitted a proposal to acquire TISG in its entirety, covering all production activities and brands rather than a partial stake. Neither the investor’s identity nor the value of the offer has been made public, and no other outlet has independently named the bidder since.
A Widening Field
The Hong Kong proposal is the latest addition to a field that has been filling out since the sale process opened on 10 August. Sanlorenzo is backing a consortium bid for the entire group, taking a minority stake itself while two or three shipyards of what Sanlorenzo describes as international standing would hold the rest. SRI Global, an investment firm controlled by Giulio Gallazzi alongside Bernardo Vacchi’s Finvacchi, has separately expressed interest in acquiring the whole group. Baglietto’s interest is narrower, confined to TISG’s La Spezia assets rather than the group as a whole.
Azimut-Benetti has also reviewed the sale documents, but Ferretti’s position is more pointed. Ferretti publicly denied pursuing a TISG acquisition in June, after Bloomberg and Il Sole 24 Ore reported it was weighing a bid, with chief executive Stassi Anastassov stating on the record that Ferretti had “never submitted offers, signed letters of intent, or conducted internal evaluations on the transaction.” Ferretti has since reviewed TISG’s sale documents alongside Azimut-Benetti, without walking back that denial.
The Power Brands in Play
Perini Navi is the sailing yacht name most associated with TISG, but three of the group’s four boatbuilding brands build motor yachts. Admiral, the oldest and best established of TISG’s power brands, produces elegant custom and semi-custom motor yachts up to 90 metres. Tecnomar builds sportier, high-performance motor yachts, including the Tecnomar for Lamborghini series developed with the Italian carmaker, with a claimed top speed of 63 knots. Picchiotti, dating to 1575 and the oldest name in the group, also builds motor yachts, with classic, understated styling the group markets as an “old money” aesthetic.
Picchiotti’s power heritage runs to offshore racing as well as cruising. In 1977, Francesco Cosentino, then president of the Union Internationale Motonautique and a former secretary-general of the Italian Parliament, commissioned British designer Don Shead to draw a pair of 38-foot aluminium Class 1 offshore racers. They were built by a consortium trading as Picchiotti-Cantieri Uniti Viareggio, formed from the yard of Cosentino’s friend Guido Niccolai and headed by Cdr. Attilio Petroni. Sponsored by Italian state airline Alitalia, the two boats, Alitalia Uno and Alitalia Due, won four UIM races in their first season. On 17 December 1978, Cosentino drove Alitalia Uno to the World Offshore Powerboat Championship at Mar del Plata, Argentina, in six to ten-foot seas whipped up by 20-knot winds.
NCA Refit, the group’s fifth business unit, services and refits yachts across all four brands rather than building new boats of its own.
The Numbers Behind the Sale
TISG’s most recent report, dated to 31 July, shows negative net equity of €402.1 million, current liabilities of €512.4 million and a period loss of €25.6 million, figures the company itself describes as preliminary and unaudited.
A separate disclosure published on 31 August, required under Consob’s continuous disclosure rules, gives a more granular picture of the same period. TISG’s overdue debts rose by more than €12 million in a single month, from €257.7 million at the end of June to roughly €270 million at the end of July. Overdue payments to suppliers accounted for most of that rise, climbing from around €75.5 million to €85.8 million. Net financial position improved slightly over the same period, from €181.1 million to about €179.6 million, and available liquidity rose from €2.9 million to €5.3 million, still small against the scale of the company’s total exposure. TISG holds roughly €149 million in bank debt, of which nearly €49 million is already overdue, and its entire bank exposure has now been reclassified as short-term after missed instalment payments. The company has received 38 injunction orders from creditors since the crisis began.
A Tight Timeline
31 August was the deadline set by the Florence court for TISG to submit its restructuring plan and creditor proposal. A court hearing follows on 16 September, the day after non-binding offers in the sale process are due by noon on 15 September. Binding bids are due 15 October, with signing tentatively targeted for 26 October.
For Perini Navi, the sailing yacht brand at the centre of TISG’s portfolio, the process carries an echo of its own history. The yard went bankrupt in 2021 and was bought by TISG for €80 million at auction. It now finds itself back inside a process that could redraw its ownership again, this time as one piece of a much larger restructuring rather than the whole story.
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.
