Once facing bankruptcy, Italian yacht maker Ferretti Group has become the latest purchase by Chinese investors with a taste for luxury and an eye toward their fast-growing home market.

But that relationship comes with a challenge: preserving the brand's mystique as financial backing is provided by owners from a country with little reputation for luxury. At Ferretti, its new owner is China's state-controlled Shandong Heavy Industry Group Co., whose businesses include making bulldozers.

The solution is to focus on what each side knows best, says Lamberto Tacoli, Ferretti vice president of sales and marketing. Shandong is focused on growth and hopes to boost sales in the next three to five years, he said. It also plans on an ambitiousexpansion in China.

At the same time, he said, the company is aware of Ferretti's historical value and intends to preserve its Italian culture. 'They know logistics very well, and we know how to sell yachts and a luxury lifestyle that people want,' Mr. Tacoli said.

Shandong Heavy said in January it would invest 178 million ($234 million) in capital and extend credit lines worth 196 million to Ferretti in exchange for a 75% stake. It marked the latest deal in the small but growing number of Chinese purchases of luxury names.

Other recent deals include Trinity Ltd.'s 0891.HK +1.24% $69 million purchase of menswear name Cerruti Holding SpA in 2010 and Ningbo Huaxiang Electronic Co.'s 002048.SZ +2.20% 2010 purchase of luxury-interiors assets from auto maker Jaguar Land Rover for $23 million, according to data firm Dealogic. Efforts by two Chinese auto makers to buy Saab Automobile AB of Sweden faltered after former parent General Motors Co. GM -1.16%