{"text":[[{"start":8.6,"text":"Shareholders in Italian yachtmaker Ferretti have backed a management overhaul pushed by the group’s Chinese controlling shareholder Weichai, tightening the latter’s grip on the luxury boat builder despite investor concerns about governance."}],[{"start":21.75,"text":"A board slate backed by Weichai emerged victorious in a crunch vote on Thursday, the company said, capping a months-long boardroom battle between Ferretti’s two largest investors. "}],[{"start":33.15,"text":"The Weichai-backed board slate was pitted against one put forward by Czech billionaire Karel Komárek’s firm KKCG Maritime, which proposed keeping the company’s chief executive of the past 12 years, Alberto Galassi."}],[{"start":46.25,"text":"Weichai, which owns a 39 per cent stake in the Italian yachtmaker, wanted to replace Galassi with former Duracell chief Stassi Anastassov. The new board will vote to formalise the chief executive’s appointment later on Thursday."}],[{"start":60.3,"text":"Ferretti’s new chair, Tan Ning, said the overhauled board represented “continuity, stability, and growth” and leveraged “a long-term industrial vision aimed at enhancing the group and its brands”. "}],[{"start":72.8,"text":"KKCG Maritime has been seeking to diminish Chinese influence over the company since increasing its stake to 23 per cent last year. In an extraordinary rebuke of Weichai, Galassi told the FT this month that Ferretti’s growth had been “constrained” by its controlling shareholder."}],[{"start":90,"text":"The Czech group said on Wednesday it had notified the Italian government of potential breaches of Italy’s so-called golden power rules, which limit foreign investments in national strategic assets, after reports that Chinese investors had stepped up share purchases ahead of this week’s shareholder vote. "}],[{"start":107.55,"text":"Rome has increasingly used its golden powers to curb the influence of Chinese state-controlled groups over Italian manufacturers, including tyremaker Pirelli, amid mounting tensions between local management and Chinese shareholders over strategy and governance."}],[{"start":121.75,"text":"However, it is unclear whether Ferretti falls within the scope of the golden power rules, which limit Rome’s intervention to strategic sectors such as technology, energy and defence. "}],[{"start":132.25,"text":"The Pirelli intervention centred around the tyremaker’s proprietary technology that can record drivers’ data and movements, which was considered sensitive from a national security perspective."}],[{"start":143.45,"text":"Galassi told the FT that Ferretti had recently ditched its security division, which would have allowed the yachtmaker to expand into the defence sector by manufacturing speedboats for security forces. "}],[{"start":155.04999999999998,"text":"On Thursday the company said two directors had resigned the previous evening with immediate effect, including then-chair Piero Ferrari. "}],[{"start":163.39999999999998,"text":"Ferrari said his choice had been dictated by his “frustration and disappointment for what [he] witnessed in past weeks” as a result of “various entities close to a faction seem to have adopted a strategy aimed at impeding such substantive discussion and vote”. "}],[{"start":179.04999999999998,"text":"Weichai said earlier this month in response to Galassi’s remarks that it was seeking to overhaul the board to improve the company’s management. "}],[{"start":186.45,"text":"“Boards and majority shareholders upgrade leadership when they believe more can be achieved — not less,” Weichai said."}],[{"start":199.95,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1778809362_4243.mp3"}