The world leader in luxury expedition cruises on small ships, focused on the Arctic and Antarctic, has acquired a company with five luxury ships, exploring warmer regions. In a rapidly expanding experiential market, Ponant intends to accelerate its growth.
While it is encountering headwinds in the fashion business of its luxury group Kering, the Pinault family is setting its sights on cruises.
Owned by its family-owned private investment company, Groupe Artemis, the Ponant Explorations group announced in mid-January that it had acquired a majority stake in Aqua Expeditions.
For Ponant Explorations, which claims to be the world leader in luxury expedition cruises in the small ship segment (less than 500 passengers), this choice is very much in line with its DNA.
Small ships
Founded in 2007 by Peruvian Francesco Galli Zugaro, who will remain a shareholder and continue to manage the brand, Aqua is in fact “an award-winning small ship expedition company renowned for its exceptional river and ocean cruises in South America, Southeast Asia and beyond,” Ponant explains in a press release.
When interviewed by the Bloomberg agency, Hervé Gastinel, CEO of the Ponant Explorations Group, revealed that he had also been interested in buying out Hurtigruten Expeditions, before throwing in the towel due to the excessive size of the company’s five ships.
Aqua Expeditions, on the other hand, is similar to the Ponant model, but also complements it with very different destinations. The 13 Ponant ships explore regions of extreme cold, in the Arctic and Antarctic. Even if it is also starting to turn to milder shores. Launched in the spring of 2024, the Spirit of Ponant, its latest and first six-cabin catamaran, will transport its passengers to Corsica and the Seychelles.
Exclusivity is the order of the day
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