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FCA launches Ferrari IPO

It's been a long time coming, but the moment is finally upon us: Ferrari is hitting the stock market. Its parent company Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has announced the launch of Ferrari's initial public offering – almost exactly a year to the day since FCA launched its IPO (pictured above). And with it, FCA is starting the process of separating the Maranello-based exotic automaker and racing team away from the rest of the Italian-American industrial empire. The plan filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) calls for FCA – which owns 90 percent of Ferrari – to float 17,175,000 common shares on the New York Stock Exchange. That amounts to nine percent of Ferrari's common shares. Another 1,717,150 common shares (equal to 1 percent) will be offered to the underwriters of the IPO. The remaining 80 percent interest in the Prancing Horse company will be separated from the rest of FCA and distributed to the parent company's shareholders – of which Exor, the Agnelli/Elkann family's holding company, is the largest, holding a stake of about 30 percent. Currently registered as New Business Netherlands NV, the company is soon to be renamed Ferrari NV. And while it's nominally based, like its (soon to be former) parent company, in the Netherlands, there's no reason to anticipate at this point that Ferrari will move its operating headquarters away from its current and historic home in Maranello, on the outskirts of Modena in Italy's "supercar valley." The IPO is expected to be priced at or around $50 per share (give or take a couple of bucks), which would value the company at around $10 billion. Trading won't actually commence, however, until all the SEC filings are complete. At that point, the company will be listed on the NYSE under the symbol RACE. And whether you yourself are actually interested in trading in Ferrari shares or not, that could be one of the best parts of the announcement. FCA Announces Launch of Ferrari Initial Public Offering LONDON, October 12, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (NYSE: FCAU / MI: FCA) ("FCA") and its subsidiary New Business Netherlands N.V. to be renamed Ferrari N.V. ("Ferrari") announce today that Ferrari has launched its initial public offering ("IPO").

Ferrari IPO may turn out to be good news for enthusiasts

Sergio Marchionne's strategy to spin off Ferrari from FCA and make the Italian automaker a publicly traded company has been met with ire from a vocal contingent of enthusiasts ever since rumors about the plan began to surface a few years ago. Some of these particularly pessimistic automotive pundits have voiced fears that with stockholders in the mix, it would not only spell the demise of the exclusive Italian supercar maker as we know it, but would in fact "ruin" the company. Call me dense, but I fail to see what the issue is. That isn't to say that I don't understand what's causing the fear. When profitability becomes a higher priority for a brand that's historically relied on exclusivity to keep its products in the highest echelons of desirability, there's a high potential for internal philosophical conflict. And then there are concerns about the sorts of products that Ferrari might develop that aren't the high-performance sports cars that the brand is known for. But individuals with those apprehensions seem to forget that Ferrari has already lent its name to a multitude of things that are not LaFerraris, 488 GTBs, or F12 Berlinettas, including clothing, headphones, and even laptops. But let's assume for a moment that the core anxiety is about future vehicles – including the unspeakable notion that Ferrari might develop an SUV. Why wouldn't Ferrari build an SUV, especially after seeing how incredibly successful that endeavor has been for Porsche? I think it's likely that Ferrari will put engineers to task creating some sort of crossover or high-rolling cruiser with room for the whole family at some point in the near future. And why wouldn't it, after seeing how incredibly successful that endeavor has been for Porsche? After all, the Cayenne accounted for more US sales in 2013 than the Boxster, Cayman, 911, and 918 combined, and it only gave up about a thousand units of sales last year to make room for the Macan crossover, the latter of which Porsche sold nearly as many of as it did Boxsters and Caymans. People want these vehicles, and they're willing to pay quite a bit of money for them. If we use Porsche's recent trajectory as a foreshadowing metric for what's in store for Ferrari, the future actually looks pretty good. After all, those SUV sales keep plenty of cash in Porsche's coffers for the low-volume projects that we enthusiasts love, like the 918 Spyder and the 911 GT3 RS.

Ferrari stock sale pegged for October, or later

The Ferrari IPO is still coming, but it won't be before Columbus Day (Monday, October 12, that is), according to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne. The outspoken exec is blaming tax reasons for the fourth-quarter date, according to a report from Reuters. Marchionne said a full year needed to pass between FCA's October 13, 2014 Wall Street debut and any additional listing. This isn't the first delay in the Ferrari IPO. FCA was originally supposed to make a 10-percent offering of Ferrari during second or third quarter of 2015, before officially pushing things back to the third quarter of this year. Now, it's unclear if Ferrari will even go public before the dawn of 2016. Related Video: News Source: ReutersImage Credit: Marco Vasini / AP Earnings/Financials Government/Legal Chrysler Ferrari Fiat Sergio Marchionne FCA fiat chrysler automobiles