THE FERRETTI GROUP WELCOMES TO ITS BOATYARDS THE HIGHEST AUTHORITIES OF THE CITY OF QINGDAO (SHANDONG, CHINA)
Monday, October 29, 2012
Forlì, 29 October 2012– Over the last few days, the Ferretti Group - one of the leading world players in the design, construction and sale of motor yachts, with a unique portfolio of prestigious brands - hosted an important delegation made up of the highest-ranking authorities of the city of Qingdao (Shandong Province, China) in its boatyards in Ancona, Mondolfo and La Spezia. More specifically, the delegation – made up of Zhang Xinqi (Governor of Qingdao), Liu Mingjun (Deputy Governor of Qingdao), Sun Hengqin (Director of the Qingdao Economic and Technical Developing Zone), Yu Dajiang, (CEO of SASAC - State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council), Li Zhongmin (Secretary General of the Qingdao Governorate), Zhu Peiji (Director of the Qingdao Commission for Development and Reforms), and Liu Xiao (China Everbright Limited) - visited the Ferretti Group’s boatyards accompanied by Xu Xinyu (Deputy Chairman of the Ferretti Group), Wang Tao (Chairman’s Office Coordinator), Qian Cheng (Deputy Chairman of Weichai Power), Chen Zengming (Strategic Development Director at Weichai Power), as well as Lamberto Tacoli (CRN’s Chairman and CEO), Mauro Frattesi (Chief Technical Officer of the Ferretti Group and Chairman and CEO of Ferretti Group Asia Pacific Ltd), as well as by leading representatives of the Ferretti Group’s Top Management. The main objective of this visit by Qingdao's highest authorities was to learn more and see for themselves the absolute excellence and unrivalled quality of the Ferretti Group’s boatyards, capable of producing yachts that are the true embodiment of craftsmanship and technological innovation - the key elements that have made the Group a real icon of Made-in-Italy products all over the world. In particular, the delegation was able to step onboard two of CRN’s mega-yachts currently under construction in Ancona – M/Y CRN 125 and M/Y CRN 129 - and then to visit two more production sites of the Group’s, the boatyard in Mondolfo and the one in La Spezia. This visit has a strategic importance for the Ferretti Group, which is aiming to further strengthen its activities in the entire Asia-Pacific region following the strategic partnership established with its new majority shareholder, the Weichai Group – currently one of the main non-European investors in Europe, whose operations last year amounted to approximately € 1,142 billion - and the Letter of Intent recently signed with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the leading Chinese bank and the number-one bank in the world in terms of Stock-Exchange capitalisation. In more general terms, this visit is part of the increasingly closer cooperation that many Italian regions are establishing with China, so as to take the opportunities offered by the fast growth that has been taking place and is expected to take place of the next few years in the Asian country. The value of the Chinese boating sector alone, for instance, currently amounts to € 1.5 billion, and is expected to reach € 3 billion by 2015 and € 9.2 billion by 2002 (Lucintel Forects 2012 – 2017).