Ferretti seeks to renegotiate debt burdenDebt-strapped boatbuilder Ferretti has begun to renegotiate its more than €1bn of borrowing with The Royal Bank of Scotland just days after it defaulted on a debt payment.
In a statement, Ferretti said it was seeking to change the terms of the loan agreement entered into in January 2007, "at a time when the market was especially dynamic and therefore substantially different from the current negative economic situation".
The move will likely lead to redundancies at some of Ferretti's yards, and a slowdown in production of smaller motorboats, sales of which the builder says have suffered a decline.
Ferretti, which not only makes boats under its own name, but also owns Riva and Pershing, was bought by British private equity house Candover for around €1.7bn in October 2006.
Since then, the market has suffered a profound reversal, but the Italian boatbuilder remains upbeat about its prospects.
"[The company] is strongly determined to undertake all the necessary actions to consolidate the Group's leadership in the luxury motoryachts sector and to resolve short-term financial tension in order to continue with the process of growth that has characterized the Group's 40 years of history," it said.
Motor Boats Monthly, 4 February 2009
