Gianluigi Aponte – Net Worth, Lifestyles, Business, Companies 

Gianluigi Aponte owns Mediterranean Shipping, a fleet of approximately 700 container vessels based in Geneva, which calls at about 500 ports globally. The company also owns MSC Cruise, the largest privately-held cruise company in the world, and holds a majority share in port management firm Terminal Investment. 

Gianluigi Aponte’s business empire is derived from the closely-held Mediterranean Shipping company, which operates around 700 container vessels that call at about 500 ports worldwide, according to the company’s website. 

The company’s core business is the container fleet of MSC, the port operator of Terminal Investment, and MSC Cruise, which is the largest privately owned cruise line in the world. Let’s find out everything about his net worth, lifestyle, business, and company.

Net Worth

Many people want to know Gianluigi Aponte Net Worth since he is the founder of MSC, a cruise giant and the largest container line in the world, and is one of the world’s richest people. 

According to a new Forbes billionaires survey, Aponte’s net worth increased by $14,4 billion in the year ending March 10, making him the sixth wealthiest person in the world. Aponte, 82, is ranked 43rd on Forbes’ billionaires index, along with his wife Rafaela, who is ranked 43rd with an estimated $29,4 billion. So Gianluigi Aponte Net Worth was over 29.4 billion dollars. 

The Apontes, originally from Naples, keep the finances of MSC, based in Geneva, private. They are said to be three times richer than the second-ranked family on the latest Swiss media-rich list. 

MSC’s liner shipping business, in which it has a global market share of 18.2%, generated a collective record $200bn in net income last year, far surpassing the profits of the FANG group of tech giants (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google).

Lifestyle

The journey of becoming a billionaire from a man who came from a basic family background is not easy. Gianluigi Aponte not only became a billionaire but he and his wife also built an entire empire all by themselves. He leads a quite interesting lifestyle. 

Biography

Gianluigi Aponte was born in 1940 in the port city of Sorrento (modern-day Naples, Italy) to a family of seafarers who had been there for over 300 years, Gianluigi Aponte’s father died five years after his birth, leaving him an orphan. 

The young Gianluigi Aponte went on to study at the nautical institute in his hometown and then joined the ferry fleet of the Italian navy, the ‘Achille Lauro’, which ran from Naples to Capri which we know as the modern-day Capri, and there he became the captain. 

Personal Life

Rafaela and Gianluigi Aponte on a boat trip in the 1960s to Capri, an island off the coast of Italy. He was a ship captain, ferrying tourists from Naples, the port city where he was born, to the island resorts nearby. 

Rafaela, the daughter of a Swiss-born Israeli banker, had joined him in Geneva, where he worked as a broker for a Swiss bank. Gianluigi left the bank in 1970, and Gianluigi & Rafaela Aponte got a loan of $200,000 to purchase their first boat, a small freighter named Patricia. 

Rafaela and Gianluigi Aponte opened MSC in Geneva in 1970 and grew by purchasing second hand ships and focusing on less-traveled routes, such as Europe to Africa. Gianluigi & Rafaela Aponte named their second boat Rafaela and had 17 ships by 1979.

Gianluigi Aponte rarely makes public appearances for MSC, apart from attending christenings of its new cruise ships and its sale of 35 percent of Terminal Investment in April 2013 for US$1.9 billion. Aponte lives in Geneva with his wife. His children Diego and Alexa both work for MSC.

Business

The value of MSC’s container fleet is calculated on the basis of the April 2023 asset values of its vessels excluding charters, as reported by the London-based ship valuation database Vesselsvalue.com. 

A 60% discount is applied to reflect the average amount of debt that shipowners carry in their fleets, says a source familiar with the sector but not authorized to speak publicly as details are not available. MSC is the sole owner of VesselsValue, a Geneva-based business.

According to a Bloomberg report, Gianluigi Aponte sold 35% of Terminal Investments in April 2013 for $1,9 billion. It retains 65% of the business. The value of the business is based on reported financial results, as well as the average EV/EBITDA, EV/Sales, and EV/EBIT multiples of MSC’s four publicly traded peers.

Hong Kong-based Hong Kong Port Holdings Trust (HCPT), China’s Guangzhou Port Holdings Co. Ltd., Dubai’s Port Holdings Co PJSC (Ports Co PJSC), and the United Kingdom’s Container Terminal Services (TCS). 

In 2022, MSC completed the $5,5 billion acquisition of Bollore S.A. ‘s (Bollore SA) Africa transport (transport and logistics) business. The deal included a $500 million liability to cover the cost of the acquisition.

Companies

With the coronavirus-driven boom in container shipping set to come to an end later that year, one of the biggest winners of the period is likely to be the shipping tycoon’s family. Gianluigi & Rafaela Aponte are the founders of MSC, the world’s largest container line. They each own 50 percent of MSC. 

In addition to MSC, Gianluigi and his family also own other companies like MSC Cruise, Medlog inland cargo business, and Terminal Investment Limited, a container terminal operator.

Conclusion

To sum it up all we can say is Gianluigi Aponte is a self-made billionaire who doesn’t own a big fortune right from the start. He and his wife made their entire empire in the shipping industry all by themselves. They have a success story that inspires millions of people all over the world to start their own business and have faith in themselves. 

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