Alinghi's Bertarelli has passion for sea

4.00pm

GENEVA - Ernesto Bertarelli, the Swiss billionaire who bankrolled the Alinghi crew to victory in the America's Cup over New Zealand today, has had a passion for the sea since early childhood.

His late Italian father Fabbio, who built up the family pharmaceutical business into today's Serono, Europe's largest biotech company, took him aboard a boat at the age of one.

"I was the kind of toddler who learned to walk on a boat, by hanging on to the cords. Later, the sea gave me my first freedom because my father was too frightened to buy me a scooter or car," the 37-year-old said in a recent interview.

Bertarelli was born in Rome but the family moved to Switzerland when he was seven and later spent summers in Boston, Massachusetts, where the firm has its US base.

"That's where I got my first catamaran," he recalled.

He became an accomplished yachtsman, winning Geneva's annual "Bol d'Or" race -- Europe's largest lake regatta with 600 boats -- four times (1997, 2000, 2001 and 2002). He also won the 12-metre class and Farr-40 class world championships in 2001.

Bertarelli boldly assembled a top-flight crew for his first shot at the America's Cup, pinching former Team New Zealand skipper Russell Coutts and tactician Brad Butterworth to confront the holders on Auckland's Hauraki Gulf.

Launching the syndicate at the Societe Nautique de Geneve in September 2000, he said that he hoped to bring the "Auld mug" trophy to Europe for the first time in the 152-year history of sailing's premier event.

"If you see my boat, you'll understand my management style," the Harvard Business School graduate said of the sleek craft.

Alinghi's SUI 64 gained a place in the nine-race series final by beating US billionaire Larry Ellison's Oracle BMW 5-1 in the Louis Vuitton challengers last month, capsizing an American dream of reclaiming the coveted title.

It went on to thrash New Zealand's NZL82 5-0 in the final.

Winning the cup would "put Switzerland at the centre of the world, the Cup at the top of the Matterhorn", Bertarelli said.

Bertarelli had also said that if Alinghi won, he would probably move the prestigious event to the Mediterranean, since Switzerland is landlocked.

He named Naples, Barcelona, Palma de Majorca and Saint Tropez, as well as Lisbon on the Atlantic, as possibilities. Sete in France, where Alinghi's crew trained, has made an offer.

"If we bring the event to Europe it has to be done on the large scale that a great sporting festival deserves," he said.

Laurent Esquier, manager of the rival Prada Challenge, says of Bertarelli: "Ernesto is a visionary who has invested his money, time and passion for sailing in an unrelenting logic."

Serono chief executive Bertarelli is majority shareholder in the Geneva-based firm which makes drugs for fertility and multiple sclerosis and employs 4,550 staff worldwide. He took over the helm after his father died of cancer seven years ago.

He bombarded his managers with emails, keeping them on their toes during the months in Auckland, according to company sources.

Investments owned by Bertarelli and his sister Dona range from real estate, including a hotel at the posh resort of Gstaad, to a Geneva sports club where tennis players include Russian Marat Safin and French Davis Cup captain Guy Forget. Former Swedish professional Jonas Svensson is chief coach.

Bertarelli has also invested with friends in agriculture in Argentina, creating a company called Fertilo which produces sunflower oil, corn, soya and wheat, as well as owning cattle.

One of Switzerland's wealthiest men with an estimated fortune of seven to eight billion Swiss francs ($9-10.5 billion), Bertarelli footed the lion's share of Alinghi's tab. The overall cost is believed to be around $120 million.

The Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) was technical partner, providing laboratories, senior scientists and students. It carried out stress tests on carbon fibre used in the hull and mast, calculating the effects of wind, waves and water pressure.

"Ernesto has phenomenal charisma. He has a vision but also a joie de vivre unlike many people in his kind of position," EPFL President Patrick Aebischer told Reuters.

"He is an extraordinary team-builder. When you compare him to someone like Larry Ellison, Ernesto motivates the team without putting himself at centre stage," he said. "Ernesto trusted Russell Coutts but inspired from within as part of the crew. That shows intelligence and leadership."

Bertarelli also sits on the board of Switzerland's biggest bank UBS, one of Alinghi's major sponsors.

Bertarelli, whose looks have led some to compare him with James Bond, is married to former British model Kirsty, with whom he has a young daughter Chiara. His wife has been a faithful cheerleader, watching the races from aboard their luxury 53-metre yacht Vava.

The couple's new next-door neighbour is Ferrari world Formula One motor racing champion Michael Schumacher, who has just bought an estate in the lakeside town of Gland, about 25km from Geneva.

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