Ferrari shares soar after $9.8 billion IPO
Ferrari’s shares, which are listed under the apt ticker symbol RACE, rose in morning trading. With 17.18 million shares offered, representing about 9 percent of the company, Ferrari’s listing brought in approximately $893 million for FCA.
A trading post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange is ready for Ferrari's IPO, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015. The parent company, mass-market carmaker Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, is floating shares under the stock name RACE.
Richard Drew/AP
A year after Ferrari parent company Fiat Chrysler Automobiles [NYSE:FCAU] first announced that the storied Italian sports car manufacturer and race team would be spun off and its shares listed on the New York Stock Exchange, the initial public offering is finally complete and the shares ready to start trading.
Ferrari’s shares, which are listed under the apt ticker symbol RACE, start trading later today, with FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne set to ring the opening bell together with founder Enzo Ferrari’s son Piero and FCA chairman and Agnelli heir John Elkann.
Just like Ferrari’s cars, the company’s shares offered via the IPO were oversubscribed. This allowed Ferrari to price its shares at $52 apiece, the top end of an expected price range. With 17.18 million shares offered, representing about 9 percent of the company, Ferrari’s listing brought in approximately $893 million for FCA. It means Ferrari has a market capitalization of about $9.8 billion, and when you include some debts that Ferrari will take on from FCA you’re looking at an enterprise value of approximately $12 billion.
The remaining 91 percent of Ferrari has been passed over to existing FCA shareholders, primarily the Agnelli family-controlled Exor which gets around 25 percent and Piero Ferrari retaining his own 10 percent stake. Such a structure will ensure that control of Ferrari won't change much.
With money raised from spinning off Ferrari, FCA will be able to refinance a multi-billion-dollar investment program that will see numerous new models introduce across the automaker’s brands, primarily Alfa Romeo, Jeep and Maserati. As previously reported, these brands have much greater potential for increased returns to investors than Ferrari.