Ferrari ended its first trading day on Wall Street yesterday, after an initial public offering (IPO) of 10% of its shares was completed recently, a move announced by the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) group in an effort to boost revenue.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the stock – traded under the ticker name ‘RACE’, reached a high of US$60.97 (RM257.69), a 17% increase from the IPO price of US$52 (RM219.78) a share. By the end of the trading day, the shares closed at US$55 (RM232.46), up 5.8%. The 17,175,000 ordinary shares put on the market raised approximately US$893 million for FCA.
On Wednesday, Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne rang the New York Stock Exchange’s (NYSE) opening bell, accompanied by FCA Chairman John Elkann along with members of the Agnelli family that founded Fiat more than a century ago.
Even though 10% of Ferrari is now free floating and publicly listed, the remaining 90% is still held by FCA and Piero Ferrari, son of founder Enzo Ferrari, with the latter owning 10% from that percentage.
FCA is planning to spin off its remaining 80% holdings of Ferrari to its shareholders sometime in the beginning of next year. The move will see the amount of Ferrari stock that is publicly traded increase significantly.
However, only long term investors in Ferrari or Fiat will be given preferential voting shares, which enables the Ferrari and Agnelli families to maintain effective control of the Italian carmaker.
Proceeds from Ferrari’s successful listing on the NYSE will be used either to lower debt or fund FCA’s 48 billion euro five-year investment plan, which includes the introduction of several new cars across the group’s brand lineup. These include brands like Chrysler, Jeep, Ram, Fiat, Maserati and Alfa Romeo.
On the flip side, the Ferrari brand managed to build its prestige by limiting its annual production, said to be around 7,000 units, a move strongly supported by its previous chairman Luca di Montezemolo. Marchionne on the other hand, aimed to increase that figure to 10,000 units, a move which analysts say might dilute the brand’s exclusivity. This added to tensions that were already present between Luca and Marchionne, which eventually led to the former’s resignation.
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Only way I’ll ever own a Ferrari!
This is nothing la, if Proton were to list on NYSE I am sure it will also do equally well. Please support Proton, it is our pride and joy of Malaysia. I love my Preve and I am happy with it.
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I have 10 Ferrari….. wait for it…. and I hope you got your Facebook page open….
shares!!!