Acion is located in Sicily, in the area of Giammoro, Villafranca Tirrena ed Augusta, concentrating on the production of luxury yachts raginfg from 13 to 45 metres. Since 2000, Aicon strategy has not changed: becoming "the third yachting group in Italy". It is not merely the idea of growing as a producer of yachts. Shipbuilding is and is destined to remain the core business of a comprehensive supply model, and it is deemed to grow. The Aicon range of motoryachts will grow through the launch of larger fly-bridge yachts: the plan encompasses a 85', a 100'. In 2005 it is also planned to launch the first Open motoryacht, the 62' SL, that will be followed by a 70' SL and 95? SL. In 2006 the first semi-displacement motoryacht should be launched: the engineering office is working at the project of a 110' and a 130'. The program should be based on a yearly production of 80 units, on a range of 12 models. Obviously this plan should be integrated in case of acquisitions. Studies are under way on that. To support this ambitious growth plan, two levers will be activated: internal investment, to improve Aicon Group production capacity, and external, indirect investment, through the backing of a consortium of sub-suppliers that will receive outsourced work and will provide products and services. The two investment levers will be intended to mobilize the big reserve of underused labour and resources of the Messina area, channelling it into a project that is highly compatible with Southern Mediterranean environment and culture. It is a project that, in turn, will establish a good alternative to declining heavy industry conglomerates that have never been coherent with the territory. To integrate the production of yachts, there will be services: charter, organization of cruises, crew placement, financial services, ownership programs, winter recovery and maintenance services for yachts.
Clients will be segmented according to their needs and their approach to yachting. On a growing scale of interest, there will be clusters of "soft" clients, i.e. interested in yachting but not available to afford the heavy investment of ownership, to the real yachting lovers, for whom being owners is a must. In the middle, there is the intermediate segments. To meet their demands, Aicon is preparing a package of fully integrated services that will allow the client to buy a yacht, to have it serviced all year round, and to amortize ownership costs through charter. Those yachts could be subject of "put option" that will allow the owner to sell the boat at a pre-agreed price, or to trade it in for a new one. A specific segment of clients is the corporate world. Aicon is preparing packages destined to companies willing to have their "flagship" yacht to be used as a venue for meetings, or as a bonus for managers and clients. An emerging trend is the cruise seen as a team-building experience for management teams. Synergies on the above are ripe with Miami-based Aicon Yachts LLC, to organize cruises in the Caribbean area both to Aicon owners willing to trade their yacht in exchange of a week on the same model in the Caribbean and to send the yacht overseas for the winter season. Aicon believes that yachting is the contemporary way to live the sea and the coastline, an environmentally- friendly way as compared to the traditional (and land-locked) villa on the coast.
