The Aponte family group had paid the share of 150 million euros and had provided financing of 243 million. The operation received the green light from the Antitrust which had opened a procedure for distortion of competition. Hypothesized staff redundancies
Genoa – Sas (Shipping Agencies Services), the Msc group (which controls Grandi Navi Veloci), will transfer its 49% stake in Moby to Onorato Armatori, which controls it, waiving the payment, and will also renounce the pledge on the remaining 51%. To repay the financing obtained from Sas, Moby will entrust a third party with the organization of a tender to sell a package of assets. Compensation arriving for tickets purchased before July 16.
The Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato, chaired by Roberto Rustichelli, announced that it has accepted and made binding the commitments presented by Sas, Moby and Grandi Navi Veloci. The investigation was initiated on November 5, 2024 to ascertain the existence of a possible cartel following the structural link between Moby and Gnv. This link, according to the Authority’s reconstruction – was born after the acquisition of the 49% stake by Sas in Moby’s capital for 150 million euros and was strengthened by the substantial financing from Sas itself to Moby in December 2023 (243 million euros). According to the Authority, these operations would have constituted a distortion of competition.
As stated, Sas will transfer, waiving payment, to Onorato Armatori (the company that controls Moby with a 51% stake) the 49% of Moby shares it owns and will also renounce the pledge on the remaining 51% obtained as security for the financing granted to Moby in 2023. Moby will entrust a third party with the organization of a competitive and transparent procedure, open to all interested operators, to sell a package of assets identified on the basis of an independent appraisal. The proceeds from the sale will be used to repay the financing received from Sas. Furthermore, to continue guaranteeing Moby’s operations, some assets will be subject to charter back constraints.
The Antitrust recalls that if the proceeds from the sale of these assets should prove insufficient to repay the Sas financing, any residual credit will be transferred to independent third parties, under conditions that respect Moby’s economic and financial sustainability.
Moby and Gnv have also committed to providing compensation to consumers who purchased, before the date of publication of the commitments (July 16, 2025), a trip on the Genoa-Olbia, Genoa-Porto Torres, Civitavecchia-Olbia routes to be taken in the period June-September 2025, or a trip on the Naples-Palermo route on weekends between November 1, 2024 and March 31, 2025.
For Moby, this compensation is equal to 5% of the ticket price (net of taxes, charges and Ets), if the consumer chooses a refund, and 10% if they choose a voucher instead. For Gnv, the amount is 15 euros for cabin trips and 7% of the amount paid for other trips.
The Onorato family group hypothesizes that Msc’s exit from the shareholding could lead to staff redundancies. Although, it argues, the high demand for maritime personnel should allow for their rapid reabsorption.
