Bonyan builds Italian Yacht factory...

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Bonyan International Investment Group, which mainly develops real-estate projects, will build a $10 million factory in the Marche region of Italy to manufacture yachts for clients across the Gulf region.


Due for construction next month and completion this year, the facility will complement Bonyan's two-year-old yacht-making factory in Egypt, according to Abdulla Atatreh, chairman of Bonyan. Already, Bonyan has book-orders for 10 yachts worth $15 million due for delivery between the fourth-quarter of this year and the first-quarter of 2009. To be built in Marche's seaside city of Pesaro, the factory will produce at least 15 yachts per annum. Atatreh said that Bonyan, which has $15 billion worth of real estate projects for the coming three years, would also look for other business ventures in Italy such as putting up a tyre-making facility.

"We are structuring Bonyan's business by expanding our investments as well as opening the doors for other investors in the real estate industry here," he said in an interview yesterday. This developed following the signing of an agreement between Bonyan and the Pesaro & Urbino Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture aimed at enhancing relations between the UAE company and investors in Pesaro and Urbino, a Renaissance town in Marche. "We just signed a bilateral communication with Bonyan to cooperate for future initiatives," said Alberto Drudi, president of the chamber. "We see a big business potential in Bonyan — it being a very innovative company."

He said the chamber is also putting up an office in Dubai to facilitate business-to-business meetings between investors in the UAE and in Urbino and Pesaro, known as Italy's furniture capital and one of the most liveable cities in the Marche region.

"Italian businesses see the UAE not only as an advanced market, but also as a stepping stone to the wider Middle East region," he added. The UAE is Italy's biggest trading partner among the six Gulf Cooperation Council members, with bilateral trade expected to top 3.5 billion euros in 2007.

After its Dubai visit the chamber's three-member delegation will proceed to Shanghai, where the government group has a representative office, to forge business relations between a number of Italian and Chinese companies.

Drudi said that the chamber has various cooperation agreements with companies in India and some Russian cities, and would be interested to strike similar deals in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and Lebanon.

The increasing trend in financial houses investing in yacht factories is an acknowledgement of the growth and profitability in this industry in times to come.