Sanlorenzo's Own Chairman Commissions Nautor Swan's Biggest Hull

What did Massimo Perotti buy from Nautor Swan?

Perotti, Sanlorenzo's executive chairman, has commissioned hull one of the Swan Alloy 44, a 43.5-metre sailing yacht that becomes the largest vessel Nautor Swan has ever built and the first in aluminium in the yard's 60-year history.

Nautor Swan confirmed construction had begun on the Swan Alloy 44 in a release timed to its 60th-anniversary year, then showed the design in public for the first time at the Monaco Yacht Show in September 2026. The yacht measures 43.5 metres length overall, 9.45 metres beam, and displaces close to 299 GT, with a telescopic keel that varies draught between 4.3 and 6.3 metres depending on whether the owner is cruising in shallow water or racing for performance. Malcolm McKeon drew the naval architecture and exterior styling, and the Paris studio Liaigre took the interior, a pairing the yard has not used on this scale before. The new hull will succeed Skorpios, the 42.6-metre sloop that has held the title of Nautor Swan's largest yacht until now, surpassing her by 0.9 metres.

Perotti's own quote, released alongside the announcement, was direct about the novelty: "This is my first sailing yacht, and I feel a special emotion after so many motor yachts." He built his career, and Sanlorenzo, on motor yachts; the Alloy 44 is a bet on a hull type and a construction material the group has no track record building at this size. Construction of the hull and deck is underway at Gouwerok Shipyard in the Netherlands, with final outfitting and delivery to follow at Nautor's Viareggio facility in Italy, and launch scheduled for 2028.

Why is Sanlorenzo's chairman buying from a yard he already owns?

Sanlorenzo took 60 percent control of Nautor Swan in 2024 for a total deal value of EUR 80.9 million, with the remaining 40 percent due by April 2028, so Perotti commissioning hull one is his own group's chairman putting personal capital behind an asset he already controls.

The acquisition, agreed with Sawa Holding, priced Nautor Swan on an enterprise value of EUR 90 million: an immediate EUR 48.5 million for the first 60 percent stake, with the balance due by April 2028 at whichever is higher of the original agreed price or nine times Nautor Swan's earnings by then. That structure makes the next three years a direct financial test for the yard, since a stronger set of earnings raises what Sanlorenzo owes its former owners for the rest of the company. A flagship commission from the group's own chairman, publicised at Monaco during the same window the earn-out is running, is not a coincidence of timing so much as a visible bet that the earnings will be worth paying up for. The nine-times-earnings alternative means Nautor Swan's near-term order book, not just its build quality, will help set the price Sanlorenzo eventually pays for the rest of the company, giving Perotti's own group a direct financial incentive to see the Alloy line sell.

Nautor Swan has also engaged Edmiston, one of the yachting industry's larger brokerage houses, to handle the commercial launch of the wider Swan Alloy range, an unusual step for a yard that has historically sold through its own network. For an owner weighing a Swan Alloy commission behind Perotti's, that brokerage relationship is the more relevant signal than the chairman's personal order: it is the yard testing whether the range can find buyers who have no connection to Sanlorenzo at all.

What technology and construction choices set the Swan Alloy 44 apart?

The Alloy 44 pairs an aluminium hull, a first for Nautor Swan, with a dual-energy system aimed at full energy autonomy under sail, built on hybrid technology the two companies already use separately on their motor yachts and smaller Swan models.

Aluminium construction is the more consequential change than the dual-energy pitch: Nautor Swan has built in composite for sixty years, and a 43.5-metre aluminium hull demands different tooling, different welders and a different quality-control regime than the yard's existing yards know. Building it at Gouwerok in the Netherlands rather than at Nautor's own Finnish or Italian facilities is itself the tell that this is a capability the group had to go outside for, not one it already had in-house.

The dual-energy system is described by the yard as combining hybrid propulsion approaches already used across Sanlorenzo motor yachts and smaller Swan models, aimed at generating and storing enough power under sail that the yacht needs little or no generator time at anchor. No output figures, battery capacity or range-under-power numbers have been published for this specific hull, which is normal at this stage of a build two years from launch but means the claim is a design intention right now, not a measured result. The rig itself comes from established outside suppliers rather than a yard product: Southern Spars is building the mast and Doyle is cutting the sails, both specialists that already work across the largest composite and metal sailing yachts on the water.

What does the Alloy 44 mean for buyers considering a smaller Swan or a rival composite build?

Hull one carries almost none of the market risk a normal launch customer takes on, because the buyer is the parent company's own chairman, which means the Alloy 44's real test of demand will be whichever buyer signs for hull two.

A launch customer who is also the acquiring group's chairman removes the two questions that usually make a new yacht type risky to buy into: whether the yard can actually build it, and whether it will still exist to honour the warranty. Perotti's order answers both by putting Sanlorenzo's own balance sheet and reputation behind the first hull. That is good news for Nautor Swan's credibility at Monaco, where 43 vessels were being shown for the first time this year and a crowded field of new launches needs a reason to stand out, but it tells a prospective independent buyer very little about whether the finished boat performs and sails the way McKeon's numbers promise.

The more informative signal for an owner shopping in this size range will be who orders hull two, and whether Edmiston can sell an Alloy 44 or 50 to a buyer with no prior relationship to Sanlorenzo or Nautor Swan. Until that happens, the Alloy line is best read as a controlled, low-risk trial for a legacy sailing brand testing whether its name and design pedigree can carry it into a size and material it has never built before. Nautor Swan's brief to Edmiston covers the whole Alloy line, not just the flagship hull: a second, 50-metre Alloy model was already moving into design as of mid-2026, and an even larger version was teased at the same Monaco show, so the brokerage is selling a range that mostly exists on paper against a flagship that will not itself touch water until 2028.