Aponte Can Smile: Grandi Navi Veloci and SNAV are Back in Black

By | 2020 Newsletter week 34 | No Comments

Gianluigi Aponte’s Italian holding Marinvest revealed in its last yearly financial report that both Grandi Navi Veloci and SNAV are back in profit, after some years in red.

In 2019, the Genoa-based ferry company GNV closed with a net profit of almost EUR 1 million, while the previous year the loss amounted to EUR 13.4 million.

Following the outbreak of Covid-19, the results were heavily impacted in the first half of this year and GNV asked for a new EUR 25 million bank loan in line with the “Decreto Liquidità” law approved by the Italian Government (in order to make it possible for the companies to overcome those challenging months).

The Aponte family also injected EUR 17 million in the company, as a potential capital increase for the future if needed.

Also, the Marinvest-controlled ferry company SNAV, today mainly focused on the lines in the Gulf of Naples, between Naples and the Aeolian islands and between Ancona and the Croatian port of Split, last year closed with a profit of almost EUR 1.5 million, coming from a red of almost EUR 550k in 2018.

MSC Enters Messina Group With a 49% Stake and Takes Four Con-Ro Ships

By | 2019 Newsletter week 25 | No Comments

MSC Enters Messina Group With a 49% Stake and Takes Four Con-Ro Ships

Gianluigi Aponte’s Italian holding Marinvest and Ignazio Messina & C. Group have formally signed the agreement which makes MSC new owner of four ships and of a minority stake in the shipping company.

Aponte will invest €25m for a 49% stake in the Genoa-based group and for a 52% stake in a new single purpose vehicle controlling four of the eight modern con-ro ships. More specifically the units set to be 52% controlled by MSC will be JOLLY DIAMANTE, JOLLY PERLA, JOLLY TITANIO and JOLLY COBALTO.

Messina has a financial exposure of over €450m mainly with Banca Carige, related to the fleet renovation plan completed in the last few years with 8 new con-ro ships built in South Korea by Daewoo and STX shipyards from 2011 to 2015.

Besides the fresh capital Gianluigi Aponte will put in the Genoa-based shipping company, also the Messina family will put €5m on the table to re-launch the business which will be possible also through several operative synergies between the Italian and the Swiss firms.

The agreement is subject to the approval of the competent antitrust and port authorities.