Saudi Public Investment Fund will offer ‘new, important business opportunities in the Middle East’: president of Azimut Benetti group ‘I am proud and satisfied that our company gained the trust of the major global sovereign wealth fund’ ROME: The Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, has acquired 33 percent of the Azimut Benetti group, the world’s first manufacturer of megayachts. “I am proud and satisfied that our company, the most important megayacht manufacturing group in the world, gained the trust of the major global sovereign wealth fund,” said Giovanna Vitelli, president of the Azimut Benetti group. She expressed confidence that the PIF “will offer it new, important business opportunities in the Middle East.” La Nazione newspaper reported that the PIF “joins the group with the prospect of being a long-term strategic investor after a long and intense negotiation.” Based in the Italian city of Livorno, Azimut Benetti has for decades been a leader in megayacht manufacturing. Founded in 1969 by Paolo Vitelli, the group was valued at €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) in 2022-23.