Ferrari IPO imminent according to report

Photo by author.

We’ve covered this ground before, but it seems that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ pseudo-divestment of Ferrari is likely to take place this month, according to CNBC.

In July, the company placed notice with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regarding the planned IPO. The company plans to list the common shares of Ferrari on the New York Stock Exchange. While no share price has been set for the IPO, the initial filing lists a modest goal of raising $100,000,000, though most reports indicate FCA is looking to secure at least a cool billion dollars in the offering, which would value Ferrari at $10 billion in total.

Plenty of heavy hitters in the investment banking world will be involved in underwriting the IPO (and likely getting some sort of priority buying opportunities for their clients), including UBS, Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch and Santander.

It’s worth restating that only perhaps 10% of Ferrari will be available as common shares, with some 80% staying in the hands of the Agnelli family that controls Exor—the most significant shareholder in FCA—and other chosen FCA shareholders. A final 10% of Ferrari that has been consistently owned by the Enzo Ferrari’s heirs seems likely to remain in the family.

Exor (and the Agnelli family by extension) is perhaps the largest Italian company in terms of assets and revenue. In addition to owning a sizable chunk of FCA, Exor has significant holdings in CNH Industrial (formed by the combination of Case, New Holland and Fiat Industrial), Almacantar (real estate), Banca Leonardo, the Turin-based Italian soccer powerhouse Juventus and the Banijay Group, an entertainment company that primarily produces unscripted, aka reality, television shows, including—and we are not making this up—Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Exor also recently invested in The Economist and PartnerRe, a major financial reinsurance company, though that deal has not closed.

So, while the Ferrari IPO might be the flashiest one for us car guys and will potentially inject significant capital into FCA, for the Agnelli family and Exor, its value will be but a small part of a rather large—and expanding—industrial and financial empire.

from Hemmings Daily - News for the collector car enthusiast http://ift.tt/1hfHAaU