Born in Turin on October 26, 1960, Massimo Perotti was still studying Economics at the University of Turin when he began his yachting career at Azimut-Benetti Group in 1984. Working closely with the late Paolo Vitelli, founder of Azimut-Benetti, Perotti spent two decades at the company, where he joined the Board of Directors and became CEO of Azimut.
In 2005, he acquired Sanlorenzo, the storied Italian shipyard founded in 1958. Now Executive Chairman of Sanlorenzo SpA – which also includes the Bluegame and Nautor Swan brands, and the Simpson Marine dealership – Perotti has overseen the company’s growth from EUR 42 million in revenue in 2004 to EUR 930 million in 2024.
How did you enjoy this year’s Sanlorenzo Elite Weekend in Phuket, where you engaged with yacht owners and the Sanlorenzo Asia Pacific team?
The first Sanlorenzo Elite Weekend was a great experience for us, and for me personally, as I had the chance to meet Sanlorenzo yacht owners from across Asia in a wonderful setting.
With 11 yachts and 60 guests and their friends attending, this event was a very special opportunity to boost and strengthen the Sanlorenzo values and DNA – made up of craftmanship, innovation, elegance and quality – in a very relaxed and quiet environment, allowing us to spend quality time together sharing our yachting experiences.
Having completed the acquisition of Simpson Marine in 2024, how are you progressing with integrating the company and developing Sanlorenzo Asia Pacific?
We want Sanlorenzo, Nautor Swan and Bluegame to have a global reach and global branding throughout the Asia-Pacific region. I think Asia-Pacific will be the market with the most growth in the next 10 years.
I decided to buy Simpson Marine because Sanlorenzo is different from other builders. We own Sanlorenzo Americas and the distribution in America. We own Sanlorenzo Med, with offices in Monaco, Cannes, Palma de Mallorca and Malta. After buying Simpson Marine, we own the distribution all over Asia-Pacific. We are the only shipyard doing this – so acquiring Simpson Marine was very much in our DNA.
What are your hopes for markets such as Australia and Vietnam, where Sanlorenzo opened new offices late last year?
Sanlorenzo Asia Pacific’s office opening in Sydney also represented an important milestone for Bluegame, which debuted in Australia with the brand’s bestselling BGX63. Our expansion into Vietnam, with the opening of a showroom in Ho Chi Minh City in collaboration with O2H2O Vietnam last December, was also a strategic move, providing access to the growing luxury market and the elite in the region.
Vietnam’s economic development and the rising number of high-net-worth individuals create a unique opportunity for us to offer our beautiful yachts, addressing the needs of an expanding and more affluent clientele.
In the APAC region, innovation and new technology are major trend drivers, as is the demand for more advanced navigation systems. These are characteristics of Sanlorenzo yachts, together with elegance, craftsmanship, luxury and ‘Made in Italy’ style.
Why did you acquire Nautor Swan last year and how does it fit into the Group’s growing portfolio of yacht brands?
Nautor Swan builds products we’ve never built and could not build. As the future is about sustainability, Nautor Swan caters for this with its sailboats, while Sanlorenzo is pioneering green technology using methanol and hydrogen.
Also, Sanlorenzo and Nautor Swan are similar in several ways – we produce a select number of boats at a premium price for a club of connoisseurs. We focus on relationships, quality, reliability, elegance and attention to detail. We have a lot in common.
I think the acquisition represents a big help for Nautor Swan in terms of industrialisation and research and development, benefitting from the technological developments already in place at Sanlorenzo.
What were the takeaways from Bluegame’s involvement in the 37th America’s Cup?
The BGH-HSV (hydrogen support vessel) was designed by a team of experts, led by Luca Santella, and followed the strict requirements of the America’s Cup Protocol. The boats are powered exclusively by hydrogen, with zero emissions, and have a range of 180 miles. They were able to fly on foils at 50 knots alongside American Magic and Orient Express teams on the racecourse in Barcelona.
We’re now using our experience of making these boats to develop a 20m Bluegame multihull, our first hydrogen-hybrid boat, combining the hydrogen technology from the America’s Cup tenders with Volvo’s first IPS hybrid engine. And from our foiling experience, we’re building Bluegame’s new BGF line of foiling catamarans, starting from 35 to 55ft.
You’re the owner of the first Sanlorenzo 50Steel, Almax, which uses green methanol and fuel-cell technology to produce electricity and power the hotel load. Why was the completion of this yacht so emotional for you?
I’m now 64. I think back over 40 years to my first boat show, in Genoa. I was 23 and didn’t know anything about boating. I met Mr Vitelli, who was the founder and head of Azimut at that time, before he bought Benetti [in 1985]. I admired him as one of the most important entrepreneurs in the yachting industry. From then until now, I’ve loved innovation in boating.
At Sanlorenzo, when I thought that we could – for the first time in the history of yachting – build a boat that could produce electricity without carbon emissions, with just water going back into the sea, I thought this was something very, very special. It was like a dream that anticipated the future.
I first had the idea on August 12, 2021, just after the Covid-19 pandemic. I was on holiday and started thinking – as I usually do after a lot of sleep and recharging, about a lot of new ideas. I was talking with a Swiss client and friend who was very focused on the changes in weather, pollution and similar topics. He said: “Max, you keep going with these big yachts, producing carbon and consuming energy. Why don’t you do something about this problem?”
At that time, my daughter Cecilia was with me. She prefers sailboats to motorboats, and she said to me: “Dad, I think he’s right. We’re doing nothing about this problem.” The combination of my friend and my daughter pushed me to start thinking, so I asked my Research and Development department about possible solutions.
After a couple of days, they explained the possibility of using fuel cells. They told me that Siemens Energy – who we were working with on diesel-electric technology – was the largest fuel-cell builder, but mainly for military purposes like submarines.
Siemens Energy was able to bring hydrogen on submarines but had yet to work out how to do it on yachts. Then it found a solution using ‘green’ methanol [also known as renewable methanol or bio-methanol], transforming it to hydrogen and then to energy through the fuel cell, which is a proven technology.
We agreed with Siemens to build the first 50Steel with that system – which is exclusive to Sanlorenzo – and prove to the world that this technology is possible. Later in 2021, we outlined our ‘Road to 2030’ and I’m proud to say we’re in line with the targets we set.
At Boot Düsseldorf this year, you outlined your partnership with MAN to develop bi-fuel propulsion using both methanol and diesel, to be used on the 50X-Space scheduled for 2027. Why are you so excited about this technology?
I own Almax, so if a customer asks if they can find methanol on a little island in Greece, I have to say that it is not always that easy. Although the manufacturers and the technology are ready to build full methanol engines, methanol is not always available now to private yacht owners due to logistics.
However, if you have a bi-fuel engine, you can use diesel for fuel when you don’t have methanol. It allows flexibility. In terms of accessibility, cost and productivity, I believe the use of green methanol combined with the bi-fuel engine for propulsion and full methanol generators is the best solution for the next few years.
We decided to use methanol for the bi-fuel engine because it’s one of the most promising alternatives for the future of maritime transport. It’s a liquid at ambient temperature, biodegradable and easy to handle. It also doesn’t require dedicated infrastructure, only the adaptation of existing facilities.
Additionally, if produced from renewable sources, green methanol is a carbon-neutral fuel in line with our net-zero goals. In the future, we can move to full methanol engines when it’s more readily available. The number of vessels with green methanol engines and ‘green corridors’ for its use are increasing, especially in Northern Europe, where green methanol is available for passenger ships. It’s already available in over 100 ports globally.
Why are you so committed to sustainable technology?
When I imagine the future of the boating industry, I think about the young generations who are very sensitive about sustainability and want to switch to greener solutions soon. And with superyachts, you have a lot of social responsibility to be sustainable, so we think it’s our duty.
Keeping this in mind, entrepreneurs like me are responsible for anticipating the needs of the clients by developing new technologies. When it comes to sustainability, we must lead the market and show the way.
To do so, we must identify the right partners, ready to change the rules of the game. This happened for us with Siemens Energy for the fuel cell project on the 50Steel, and MAN for the bi-fuel engine on the 50X-Space. We all share the same vision for a cleaner way to be at sea.
Also, when you’re working in a company that’s a leader in the business and you’re known in the market to be an innovator, people with new innovative ideas come to you because they know you’re open to such concepts.
For instance, the 50Steel Almax is full of inventions. People know the boat for the fuel cell technology, but the boat has other very special innovations, such as the hidden engine room (HER) system. The person who registered the patent, one of my technicians, came to me with this idea of moving the engine room down a floor, which could create one more saloon. I’m good at understanding if an idea is good or bad. If it’s good, I jump on it with a lot of energy.
Over the years, Sanlorenzo has introduced many groundbreaking yacht designs. What do you believe have been the key ones?
Innovation has been at the heart of Sanlorenzo since I bought the company. I think about it continuously. But first, I’ll take you back to when I was at Azimut-Benetti and made two important inventions.
When I was 32, I invented the glueing of the window to the superstructure, instead of using metal to join them. It was very important because it meant you could make different-shaped windows on smaller, mass-production boats. Then, when I was 42, I created the Azimut 68 with opening hull windows on both sides, an idea that was then adopted by other brands.
Soon after, I left for Sanlorenzo, which was a top-quality brand, producing yachts up to 100ft or 120ft in fibreglass. I needed a new idea to grab the attention of the market. Starting with a 40m yacht in aluminium or metal, I wanted something glamorous, so we invented the terrace by the saloon and the main cabin, another revolution for our sector, again then adopted by other brands.
About a decade ago, another invention was the 42m 460GT explorer (460EXP), which debuted in 2015 and was the first model in a new product line that now has the 47m 500EXP. Another key development has been the asymmetric design, starting with the SL102A planing yacht in 2018.
Maybe the most famous is our SX line, with a totally new design that really changed the paradigm of the market. We invented SX with our technical team after the big financial crisis from 2008 until 2013, which really damaged the business. It was a very bad time, so we sat around the table with no market, nothing to do, and asked what would customers want after this crisis? What kind of products should we make that will fit future demands?
The financial turbulence had rid the market of customers who bought boats to show off, not because they loved the sea. Our customers wanted to spend time close to the sea, have water toys and play in the water, so we invented the long open aft deck, instead of a 1.2m swim platform. On the SX yachts, the aft deck can carry a big tender, which can be put into the water and leave a big terrace by the sea.
We also angled the windscreen forward, to create more indoor height and space for the master cabin on the main deck. Little by little, we invented a new boat. Today, SX is still the company’s most profitable line.
What else makes Sanlorenzo stand out from other shipyards?
We’re understated. It may seem surprising to think of a shipyard building superyachts as understated, but it’s true. Models in Sanlorenzo’s Yacht Division (the SL, SD, SX and SP fibreglass series from 24-40m) don’t display the model’s name on the side of the yacht.
Our customers don’t like the size displayed on their boat. They’re like a club of connoisseurs, yachtsmen with experience. They buy a Sanlorenzo yacht because it’s understated. It’s well built, very solid and custom-made – we call it ‘made to measure’ – plus it retains a very high resale value.
Our yachts are heavier than our competitors’ boats, which means less speed and maybe less sporty, but much more solid. If you open the door of a Mercedes or feel the seats in comparison to a BMW or Audi – both very good quality – the Mercedes is a step above.
Some of our competitors are producing hundreds of boats annually. We build 70 a year. The scarcity is part of the luxury understatement and our owners like that. I think every brand has its own peculiarity. Sanlorenzo’s DNA stands on the pillars of quality, elegance, reliability, craftsmanship, scarcity of product and quiet luxury. I think those qualities make us unique.
Sanlorenzo is a very design-oriented shipyard and partners with major art fairs, exhibitions and galleries. How do you blend your support of art with your yacht designs?
Design was the first idea when I bought Sanlorenzo. At the beginning, the idea was to break with the tradition of always building with cherry wood and all the boats looking the same.
We made a big splash in the market because we brought in Rodolfo Dordoni, Antonio Citterio, Piero Lissoni (Art Director of the company since 2018), Christian Liaigre, Patricia Urquiola – all big-name architects and designers with new ideas. It was very easy for the market to understand that Sanlorenzo was at the top and continuing to be at the top with new concepts, including the innovations of the designers.
If you do something remarkable, people come to you to find out more, so the connection to the design world was automatic. I started to look at the art world because a lot of my customers were interested in this area, and close to art and design. Seeing our boats full of art was inspiring, we decided to become a partner of the exclusive art show, Art Basel, so we had Sanlorenzo VIP lounges at the fairs in Hong Kong, Miami, Basel and Paris.
We’re also exhibitors at the Milan Design Week and won our first Compasso d’Oro award in 2020 for our exhibition design (Sanlorenzo also won in 2024 for the SP110 yacht). In 2022, Sanlorenzo and Valentino were the main sponsors of the Italian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. On that occasion, I fell in love with Venice and decided to buy a house in front of the Basilica Santa Maria della Salute that will become the Casa Sanlorenzo.
Who has inspired the most in your life, and who are you inspiring?
Mr Vitelli and the Vitelli family are number one for me, for sure. He was there at the start of everything. I hope to inspire my son Cesare, who has been working in Sanlorenzo for four years. More recently, my daughter Cecilia joined Nautor Swan, even though she always told me she would never work with me. Now, she has joined the company because she wants to work for Nautor Swan.
I really hope to be able to inspire them with my hard-working example. They understood that if you want to achieve something, you must work hard and really sweat. Nothing is coming from the sky. It was especially hard work in the 1980s because at that time, the yachting industry had to be created.
Today, it’s more established, so I hope my kids won’t have to work as hard as me and will take more time for themselves. Inspiring them is my last big hope in life and would be my last success. I plan to dedicate a lot of my time transferring what I’ve learnt and built in the last 40-plus years, first learning from Mr Vitelli.
However, I made the decision in 2019 to float the company on the [Italian] stock exchange in order not to force my children to be managers of the company. They can decide whether they want to be managers or just shareholders, and I think that’s the best freedom.
Photos courtesy of Sanlorenzo
apac.sanlorenzoyacht.com
simpsonmarine.com
This article was first seen on YachtStyle.com
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