Carlo Agliardi, former Fraser Yachts CEO and president has died.
Yacht broker Carlo and his partners in Italyachting, Alex Mazzoni and Antonio Pozzi, bought a stake in 1992 raising many eyebrows at the step into the unknown.
Globalization was almost unheard of and, if anything, American companies were taking over foreign companies, not the other way around, pointed out Fraser Yachts in its tribute to Carlo.
At the time, the Italyachting partners needed an exit strategy from the company due to the economic and political climate in Italy.
They decided to move to Monaco and established United Yachting, partering with a local brokerage company.
Within a year, Carlo had negotiated the purchase of the Fort Lauderdale branch of Fraser Yachts, a move which positioned Fraser as the only brokerage house to have a strong presence on both sides of the Atlantic.
American business
“The move was greeted with mixed feelings by the Americans – who were these Italians taking over an American business,” said a Fraser Yachts spokesperson in a statement.
“But as always, Carlo thrived on a challenge. Driven, focused and not suffering fools gladly, he took the bull by the horns with a dual purpose: to channel the new opportunities created by the buoyant international market and to develop a company culture based on the strengths of its new transatlantic identity.”
Carlo helped Fraser establish yacht management and charter management and crew placement divisions to promote the company as a ‘one stop shop’ to yacht owners.
He was also instrumental to setting up MYBA and giving it teeth, including the original drafts of the MOA and MYBA charter contracts and lobbied on the industry’s behalf.
In 1999, Carlo and Fraser Yacht’s founder, David Fraser, merged all Fraser Yachts businesses into one company – Fraser Yachts Worldwide.
Carlo saw technology as a means to unite the company and was the driving force behind the design of Fraser’s in-house CRM, FLINK.
Brokerage deal
During this time, he still managed to do the odd brokerage deal but, also put his vision and skills at the service of his brokers, agreeing strategy and tactics with them.
“He was exacting but would back his trusted team to the hilt to conclude a deal fairly and he always strived to ensure they had his support in terms of resources, good marketing, training and IT,” explained the spokesperson.
“There were challenges, and quite a few of them. Whether he lost or won, Carlo always stood up to be counted and tried to handle differences with an even hand and without losing sight of his strategic goals.
“He alienated a few people on the way but also engendered the respect of his core team of brokers whom he always recognized as being instrumental to Fraser’s success. The respect was mutual.”
In 2004, Carlo negotiated the sale of the company to Azimut Benetti, including a minority stake to V-Ships.
He stayed on with Fraser, first as CEO then president until 2010 when he changed direction and focused all his energy on a new project: an organic vegetable farm in Tuscany.
