Billionaire Pinault Family Doubles Down on Cruising With Aqua Deal
François Pinault, the billionaire behind such brands as Gucci and Balenciaga, is amping up his investments in an industry far outside fashion: cruising. Ten years after the Pinault family's private investment company, Groupe Artémis, took ownership of French cruise line Ponant —which has 13 ships best known for sailing throughout the Arctic and Antarctic—it has bought a majority share in Aqua Expeditions, a boutique luxury line known for exploring Indonesia's Raja Ampat archipelago and the Peruvian Amazon in high style.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the announcement was made in mid-January. Aqua Expeditions' Peruvian founder Francesco Galli Zugaro remains a shareholder and is staying on to run the brand.
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