Manfredi Lefebvre d'Ovidio (born 30 April 1953) is an Italian-born Monegasque billionaire businessman. He is the chairman and former owner of

Silversea Cruises Silversea Cruises is a luxury cruise line headquartered in Monaco. Founded in 1994 by the Vlasov Group of Monaco and the Lefebvre family of Rome, it pioneered all-inclusive cruising with its first ship, ''Silver Cloud''. Since July 2020, it h ...

, a company founded by his father. In June 2018, he sold two-thirds of the company to Royal Caribbean for US$1 billion, retaining a one-third stake in the company. As of August 2022, his net worth was estimated at US$1.3 billion.

Biography

Lefebvre d'Ovidio grew up in Rome, one of four children born into an Italian family. The son of Antonio Lefebvre d'Ovidio, legal professor and Italian jurist, and Eugenia Beck, of a German family, he was involved in a variety of family businesses from an early age and today is chairman of luxury cruise line, Silversea Cruises. He attended law school at

Sapienza University of Rome The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a public research university located in Rome, Ita ...

but did not complete his studies.

Career

His father's background in maritime law, among other industrial interests, led to the family's involvement in shipping and ultimately, in the cruise industry. In 1988 they purchased control of

Sitmar Cruises Sitmar Cruises and its predecessor Sitmar Line were company names derived from the acronym for the Società Italiana Trasporti Marittimi ( en, Italian Maritime Transport Company). SITMAR originally was an Italian shipping line founded by Russian ...

from the Vlasov family and in 1989, merged it with P&O's

Princess Cruises Princess Cruises is an American cruise line owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. The company is incorporated in Bermuda and its headquarters are in Santa Clarita, California. As of 2021, it is the second largest cruise line by net revenue. It w ...

unit.

was founded in 1994 by his father with two ships purpose-built for the line, the Silver Cloud and the Silver Wind. Lefebvre d'Ovidio led Silversea through his board position before being named chairman in 2001. By that time, it added two more vessels (

Silver Whisper ''Silver Whisper'' is a cruise ship that entered service in 2001, and is operated by Silversea Cruises. The passenger capacity is 382 passengers, and there are 295 crew members. Her sister ship is ; both ships were built by the Mariotti Shipyard ...

and Silver Shadow) making it a four ship fleet. As of 2017 Silversea operates nine vessels on worldwide itineraries that call in all seven continents. It has been recognized as one of the World's best with multiple awards from Condé Nast Traveler and Travel + Leisure magazines as well as other travel publications and organizations. He was the sole owner of Silversea, until June 2018, when Royal Caribbean agreed to pay about US$1 billion for a two-thirds stake in the company. In August 2018, ''Bloomberg'' assessed Lefebvre d'Ovidio as a billionaire. On June 20, 2022, it was announced that A&K Travel Group, which is partly owned by Lefebvre d'Ovidio, had bought the bankrupt

Crystal Cruises } Crystal Cruises is a cruise line now headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois, USA. It was founded in 1988 by Japanese shipping company Nippon Yusen Kaisha, and sold to Hong Kong-headquartered conglomerate Genting Hong Kong in 2015. Following i ...

brand and its two ocean vessels, ''

Crystal Serenity ''Crystal Serenity'' is a cruise ship owned by Crystal Cruises before the line went out business. ''Crystal Serenity'' was built in 2003 by STX Europe in St. Nazaire.

'' and ''

Crystal Symphony ''Crystal Symphony'' was a cruise ship owned and operated by Crystal Cruises before the line went out of business. She was built in 1995 at Kværner Masa-Yards Turku New Shipyard, Finland. She was the oldest vessel in the Crystal Cruises fleet. ...

''. Plans call for putting the ships back into service in 2023.

Personal life

He resides in

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...

, Monaco, where Silversea is headquartered. He is divorced, with one daughter, Costanza.

Cruise industry advocacy

Lefebvre d'Ovidio was a key driver of the unification of the European cruise industry as chairman of the European Cruise Council (ECC) since 2010. He led the merger of that association with the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) of which he has served on the board of directors until 2013. He remains on the board of CLIA Global and serves as chairman of CLIA Europe. He is also active in promoting

international tourism International tourism is tourism that crosses national borders. Globalisation has made tourism a popular global leisure activity. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual en ...

efforts as the vice chairman of the

World Travel and Tourism Council The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) is a forum for the travel and tourism industry. It is made up of members from the global business community and works with governments to raise awareness about the travel and tourism industry. It is know ...

(WTTC), in charge for Europe and a member of the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

(WEF). Crystal Ships could belong to him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:d'Ovidio, Manfredi Lefebvre Italian businesspeople 1953 births Living people Monegasque billionaires Manfredi Italian billionaires Italian emigrants to Monaco