Ferrari Files With SEC For IPO On NYSE

Ferrari Files With SEC For IPO On NYSE

$FCAU, $UBS, $BAC, $SAN

Italian luxury super sportscar maker Ferrari has taken a step closer to a stock market listing in on the NYSE, as its parent Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) (NYSE:FCAU) seeks to fund an ambitious $53-B investment plan.

FCA said Thursday that Ferrari, the marque famous for its “Prancing Horse” mark and its Formula One racing team, had filed a request with US regulators (SEC) for a New York IPO (initial public offering).

The Maranello, Italy-based maker the 488 GTB and the LaFerrari, could attract a market value of at least EUR 10-B (about US$11-B), according to Sergio Marchionne, FCA CEO and Ferrari COB.

FCA said last year it would sell up to 10% of Ferrari via the share offering and would distribute the rest of its stake to its shareholders. The float is expected after mid-October while the spin off should be completed in early Y 2016.

Following the manner of Fiat’s tie up with Chrysler and a NYSE listing of the merged entity last year, FCA will create a Dutch-registered holding company for Ferrari and list its shares on Wall Street, according to the filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Ferrari could apply for a secondary listing in Milan.

FCA owns 90% of Ferrari, with the remaining 10% held by Piero Ferrari, vice Chairman and son of the founder Enzo, who died in Y 1988.

As in FCA’s case, Ferrari’s float will also include a loyalty share scheme for long-term investors, set to tighten the grip on the company by Fiat’s founding Agnelli family.

The Agnellis, through their holding company Exor, and Piero Ferrari together could end up with a voting power of just under 51%, enabling them to thwart any unwanted takeover bid.

UBS (NYSE:UBS) will be the offer’s global coordinator, with BofA Merrill Lynch (NYSE:BAC), and Santander (NYSE:SAN) the joint bookrunners.

A successful Ferrari listing would bolster FCA’s finances at a time when its search for a merger partner to deal with falling margins and high development costs appears to have fallen on deaf ears.

The move away Ferrari could make it easier to prepare FCA for a potential merger, as Ferrari made it harder to assign a value to FCA.

Separating it from FCA’s brands such as Fiat 500, Maserati and Alfa Romeo is an act of purification to unlock value at both firms, Mr. Marchionne has said.

Stay tuned…

HeffX-LTN

Paul Ebeling

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