Azimut Yachts and the Qatari hospitality group Assets Group signed an agreement on 13 September for a fleet of 18 Azimut yachts to work two Maldivian resorts. They signed aboard the Grande 44M, Azimut's 44-metre carbon-fibre flagship, which was on the water at the Cannes Yachting Festival. The boats go to Waldorf Astoria Maldives Ithaafushi and Rosewood Ranfaru Maldives, and the programme starts in 2026.
Which Azimut yachts will appear in the Maldives?
Fifteen of the 18 boats are from the Magellano Series, Azimut's long-range crossover line, built for long, unhurried passages. Which Magellano models, and what the other three boats are, the release doesn't say. It is also silent on what the fleet will do day to day: guest transfers, day charter, resident boats for villa guests, or all of that at once. The wording is "extending the guest experience beyond the shore."
| Point | What the release says |
|---|---|
| Fleet size | 18 Azimut yachts, 15 of them Magellano Series |
| The other three boats | Not identified |
| Magellano models | Not specified |
| Contract value | Not disclosed |
| Deliveries | Start in 2026, no schedule published |
| Service | New Azimut service centre in Malé, no address or opening date |
Azimut is also opening that service centre in Malé, run by its own Italian team together with a new dealership called "Azimut Yachts Maldives powered by Elite Yachts." Elite Yachts, a subsidiary of Al Ameeri Group Holding, has been Azimut's dealer in the Arabian Gulf for years, covering Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, the UAE and Saudi Arabia. The Maldives is new ground for it.
Marco Valle, CEO of Azimut|Benetti Group, said the deal matters "across two key dimensions. First, regarding our business model, which expands into new distribution channels. Second, with respect to our brand positioning: by partnering with leaders in ultra-luxury hospitality, we elevate the ecosystem of yacht-related experiences for a discerning audience, in a highly compelling hub."
Khaled Zi Alnon, Group Chief Executive Officer of Assets Group, said the investment "brings that vision onto the water" and that his company "will become the operator of the largest private luxury yacht fleet in the Indian Ocean—setting a new benchmark for integrated luxury hospitality."
Can this be called a new sales channel?
Valle named the mechanism himself: new distribution channels. Azimut sold to a hotel owner, which buys the boats outright and puts them in front of its own guests. The resort becomes the customer and the showroom at once, and the charter operator who would normally sit in the middle, building a fleet to rent out, is not part of this chain.
Scale explains the interest. Brokerage counts put roughly a dozen charter yachts working Maldivian waters today, so a single 18-boat order more than doubles the luxury fleet in the archipelago.
Resort boats themselves are old news there. Soneva has run Soneva in Aqua, a single 75-footer, out of Baa and Noonu atolls for years; Four Seasons has kept its Explorer liveaboard in service since the late 1990s; Waldorf Astoria Ithaafushi already uses private yachts for airport transfers. The pattern has been one or two hero boats per brand. A series fleet with the builder's own service point is new here.
Who is buying
Assets Group is a subsidiary of Power International Holding, the Qatari conglomerate of the Al-Khayyat brothers, which manages 14 hotels and resorts. Through Ithaafushi Investments it holds the leasehold on Waldorf Astoria Ithaafushi: three islands, 119 villas, about 45 minutes from Malé by boat.
Rosewood Ranfaru is a chain of private islands around a lagoon in South Malé Atoll, roughly 120 villas. The Azimut release implies the fleet serves it from 2026, while Rosewood's own communications and the trade press put the opening at 2027.
Photo: Azimut Yachts / Assets Group. Source: Azimut Yachts press release, Hotelier Maldives.
