Italian Sea Group receives 5 binding bids for assets as part of restructuring
Key Facts
Italian Sea Group received 5 binding bids on completion of the second phase of its competitive sale process, according to a company statement, as it prepares a restructuring plan due to be filed with the court by the end of October. The bids include two offers for the entire operating business as part of the competition for the group's assets. The company said all binding bids took "exclusively the form of asset purchase transactions", after the first phase also allowed equity transactions. The sale process is being managed by joint financial advisers Meti Corporate Finance and KPMG Advisory. Completion of the transaction remains subject to the required approvals from the competent court, under the terms announced by the company for the process.
The group received 11 non-binding bids in the first phase, according to its earlier disclosure on the sale process. The structures proposed at that stage included asset purchases or equity transactions, before the process moved to binding bids limited to assets. The next phase involved more extensive due diligence by selected investors ahead of submitting binding bids. In coverage published on 16 September 2026, Investing reported that Italian Sea Group shares rose 6.8% following the announcement that it had received non-binding bids. That gain came during the initial bidding phase, before the completion of the second phase and the announcement of the current binding bids.
The sale process is taking place against a backdrop of financial debt and overdue liabilities disclosed by the group in its figures as of the end of August. Italian Sea Group's net financial debt stood at 182,394 thousand euros on 31 August 2026, according to its financial disclosure to the market. The group's total overdue liabilities stood at 291,851 thousand euros, according to the same end-August disclosure. As part of the restructuring proceedings, the Florence court granted the company a 60-day extension to file its final plan. The extension runs from the expiry of the original deadline granted by the court, according to the company's statement on the filing extension.
As background to Ferretti's interest in Italian Sea Group, Ferretti issued a clarification in June about a potential acquisition of the company. It said in its statement at the time that "there are no negotiations underway on this matter, either with the company in question or with its reference shareholders". In Ferretti's business, new orders totalled 341.4 million euros in the first half of 2026, according to its published results for the period. The group compared that level with new orders of 467.3 million euros in the first half of 2025. New orders thus fell 26.9% year on year, according to the percentage reported by Ferretti in its first-half results statement.
In a separate development concerning Ferretti's governance, the group announced that the Bologna court had rejected all applications for interim measures submitted by KKCG Maritime. Ferretti said in its statement that "the court rejected all applications for interim measures" in the dispute concerning its governance. A ruling on the merits of the underlying challenge remained pending after the decision on those applications, according to the same statement. Meanwhile, Italian Sea Group's new board announced the appointment of Giovanni Costantino as chief executive officer. The appointment was announced in a group statement that also rescheduled the meeting to approve its half-year financial report.
Italian Sea Group aims to file its restructuring plan with the court by the end of October, according to the timetable it announced on completion of the second phase of the sale process. The date forms part of the plan's court proceedings, after the group secured an extension to its final filing deadline. The required approvals from the competent court remain a condition for completing the transaction being pursued through the competitive sale process. The new date for the meeting to approve the group's half-year financial report falls after the targeted plan filing date. The company announced that it had postponed that meeting to 3 November 2026, making it the next announced date for approval of its first-half financial report.