Andrea Frabetti, the former chief executive of Sunseeker, has returned to Ferretti Group as personal advisor to CEO Stassi Anastassov, focusing on innovation, product development, technology and product strategy.
Frabetti, who departed Sunseeker in December 2025, previously worked at the Ferretti Group for over two decades, leaving in 2015 as group research and development director.
Ongoing governance battle
The news, published in Italian outlets including La Stampa, adds another Italian to Ferretti Group’s top management amid an ongoing governance battle at the Italian boating giant. In June 2026, investor KKCG Maritime filed proceedings before the Civil Court of Bologna seeking to overturn decisions taken at Ferretti’s AGM and has requested urgent measures to suspend their implementation pending a court ruling.
The dispute centres on the voting participation of Ferretti International Holding (FIH), through which China’s state-owned Weichai Group controls a 39.5 per cent stake in Ferretti. KKCG Maritime argues that FIH’s voting rights should have been suspended under Italy’s Golden Power regime.
Tan Ning – who previously served as Weichai’s executive director and chief audit executive – was appointed chair of the firm following the company’s shareholder meetings in May 2026, which also marked the end of Alberto Galassi’s 12-year tenure as CEO.
Andrea Frabetti’s new role
Frabetti says his role will cover innovation, product development, technology and product strategy, including consideration of competing brands. He will not have direct managerial responsibility, with product decisions to be discussed with the group’s executive management, starting with Anastassov.
The role does not include direct responsibility for the group’s operating structures. Instead, Frabetti will support the CEO on medium- and long-term priorities, including analysing market developments, anticipating changes and assessing how technological developments could create new business opportunities.
“I will be an executive adviser focusing on innovation, product development, technology and product strategy, including in relation to the competition. ”Essentially, to build boats,” Frabetti explains to Italian marine outlet Superyacht24. “I won’t hold any direct managerial positions, but will take on an advisory role, thanks in part to the experience I’ve gained over 36 years working in the sector.”
Frabetti’s return also brings him back to the company where he began his career.
“I believe that my close ties to Stassi and my background, shaped by my experience with Norberto Ferretti, mean that my heart has always been there. It’s where I started 36 years ago by choice, after falling in love with Norberto’s boats. After graduating, I knocked on his door because I wanted to be part of his industrial and product innovation,” he tells the outlet.
He adds: “This passion has driven us to pursue important goals, and I believe that, after Norberto, I am the person who understands the shipyard best.”
Frabetti says product decisions will continue to involve the group’s management.
“Decisions will be discussed with all the executives, starting with Stassi. I believe I have shown, over the years, great respect for the brands I have loved since I was a child. A Riva means something, just as Wally has meant a great deal to the boating world, and I know what it means to respect their history. Just as I have been able to interpret Sunseeker whilst respecting continuity and our customers: I have never built boats for myself, but always with great respect for people.”
He also refers to his experience with other yacht brands during his career, telling Superyacht24: “I worked with Bertram and its founder Dick Bertram, who invented recreational boating, and I have known Pershing very well since the days of Tilli Antonelli. If I can, I won’t do anything to distort the perception of the brands. But, of course, there is a future that needs to be shaped.”
Frabetti is a naval and mechanical engineer who graduated from the University of Genoa in 1990. He joined Ferretti Group that year and spent 25 years with the company, eventually holding senior positions in product development and research and development. He headed Ferretti Engineering, the technology division responsible for developing motor yachts across the group’s brands.
He also served on the board of Bavaria Yachts, with responsibility for developing its motor yacht range, and was managing director of Diesel Center, a company specialising in the supply of engines and technological systems for the marine sector.
In January 2019, Frabetti joined Sunseeker International as chief technical officer. He became CEO in June of the same year, remaining in the position until December 2025. He has also served as a member of the judging panel for the Metstrade DAME Awards.
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