Grandi Navi Veloci – Passengers and goods

Grandi Navi Veloci is one of the main Italian shipping companies operating in the sector of goods and passenger transport in the Mediterranean. The company was established in 1992 and the first ship, the m/s Majestic, was launched in 1993.

The group owns ten ships which, together with the charter ships, currently two, guarantee connections to Sardinia, Sicily, Spain, Tunisia and Morocco. In addition to the targeted passenger services, the Grandi Navi Veloci fleet is also involved in development of the maritime "motorway" lines: transport by sea represents a cheaper alternative to traditional transport by road, and offers an effective solution to the environmental problems caused by intensive use of lorry transport on the national road network.

Currently Grandi Navi Veloci is held 50% by Marinvest, 35% by Investitori Associati, 9.2% by IDeA, 4.6% by Charme and the remaining 1.2% is split between other investors.

The history of Grandi Navi Veloci:

1992: birth of Grandi Navi Veloci.

1999: Grandi Navi Veloci – unique at the time on the Italian shipping scene – is floated on the stock market to finance the development of its fleet, the most modern and innovative in Europe.

2003: Grandi Navi Veloci extends its operations to Maghreb and opens the Genoa – Tunis line.

2004: the Grimaldi family and the Private Equity funds managed by Permira reach an agreement for further development of the company, with Permira acquiring an 80% stake and Grimaldi Holding the remaining 20% stake in the capital of Grandi Navi Veloci.

2006: the new share structure is established; just before the end of the year the new partners Investitori Associati, De Agostini, Charme and part of the management acquire a stake in the share capital of Grandi Navi Veloci.

2007: Grandi Navi Veloci is chosen as Best Shipping Company by the travel agents, who award it the 2007 Bit Tourism Award. In June Ariodante Valeri becomes General Manager of the company.

2008: the Genoa – Barcelona – Tangiers line is opened, starting connections with Morocco. In the same year, a service specially designed for pet owners is developed and introduced on the ships La Superba, La Suprema, Fantastic, Excellent and Majestic.

2009: the Grimaldi family leaves the shareholding structure and management of Grandi Navi Veloci. The shareholding structure is split between Investitori Associati (67.1%), IDeA Co-Investment Fund (20.1%), Charme (9.2%), management (2.1%) and other shareholders (1.5%).

2010: Roberto Martinoli becomes CEO and Chairman of Grandi Navi Veloci.

2011: in May the extraordinary Meeting of Shareholders of Grandi Navi Veloci decides an increase in the share capital, with the entry of Marinvest Srl, which is allocated a 50% shareholding in Grandi Navi Veloci.

The connections with Sardinia and Sicily, Maghreb, Spain are Grandi Navi Veloci's core business and it operates the following lines: Genoa-Palermo, Livorno-Termini Imerese, Civitavecchia-Palermo, Genoa-Porto Torres, Genoa-Olbia, Genoa-Tunis, Civitavecchia-Tunis, Palermo-Tunis, Genoa-Tangiers, Barcelona-Tangiers, Genoa-Barcelona.