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Ferrari stock demand exceeding supply

As with the Ferrari cars, so it is with shares in the company's initial public offering: When Ferrari has a limited quantity of something to sell, demand far outstrips supply. Investors told banks weeks ago that bids for the $1 billion in stock – up to 18.89 million shares – would exceed the number of shares available over the entire expected range of $48 to $52. Ten percent of the company is going on the block' Bloomberg reports that the books close on the IPO on Monday at 4:00 pm. The final price will be set on Tuesday, and trading will begin Wednesday under the ticker symbol RACE on the New York Stock Exchange. Piero Ferrari, the son of Enzo Ferrari, will hold onto the ten-percent stake he currently has in the company. Fiat Chrysler will disburse the final 80 percent to its investors sometime in 2016. In combination with spinning Ferrari off from its parent company next year, the share sale is expected to put $4 billion into Fiat Chrysler coffers, which will be used to help fuel the growth of Alfa Romeo, Jeep, and Maserati. Assuming all goes to plan, Bloomberg says Ferrari will be valued at roughly $12 billion, a number $1 billion greater than the valuation Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne put on Ferrari earlier this year and higher than the brand's own internal assessment. Related Video:

BMW, Ferrari, VW cars use tungsten mined by terrorists

Bloomberg Markets is reporting that BMW, Volkswagen and Ferrari have been using tungsten ore sourced from Columbia's FARC rebel terrorists. The extensive story focuses on Columbia's illegal mining trade and calls into question the provenance of the rare ore that is used not only in crankshaft parts production, but is also found in the world's computing and telecommunications industry for use in screens.
The ore is mined by the FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People's Army), and exported to Pennsylvania, where it is refined. The refined ore is then sent over to Austria, where a company called Plansee turns it into a finished product. Now, it's important to note that we aren't talking about the world's supply of tungsten here. In 2012, Plansee's American refinery purchased 93.2 metric tons of tungsten, valued at $1.8 million. That's peanuts, with the entire Colombian tungsten mining industry producing just one percent of the world's supplies.
That doesn't make indirectly supporting FARC any more acceptable, though. BMW, VW and Ferrari are all committed to not accepting mineral supplies from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is also in the grips of a guerrilla insurrection funded, in part, by illegal mining. The same commitment would figure to extend to Colombian mining, but as BMW points out, it's difficult for a multi-national manufacturer to know where every item in its supply chain comes from. A company spokesperson says as much, telling Bloomberg, "These few grams out of the billions of tons of raw materials passing through the BMW supply chain are of no practical relevance."

Future Ferraris could be based off single, modular platform

Thanks to its imminent initial public offering, Ferrari sits at the precipice of being an independent sports-car maker for the first time in decades. With Sergio Marchionne still at the helm, expect the famous brand to push even harder to grow sales around the world. According to an investigation of the company's future by Automobile, the next-generation of Ferraris could ride on a shared, modular platform and embrace turbocharging even more. Modular underpinnings, like Volkswagen's MQB or Volvo's SPA, are hugely popular in the industry because they let automakers cut development time and share more parts among models. According to Automobile, Ferrari is prepping an aluminum space frame that could support front- and mid-engine models. The design would also allow electronics, suspension parts, and powertrains to be shared among the Prancing Horse's vehicles. The first Ferrari using this platform could be the next-gen California, which is predicted to launch around 2017. The more aggressively styled hardtop convertible could also have an entry-level version with a twin-turbo 2.9-liter V6, possibly shared with the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio. Contrary to previous rumors, Automobile reports that the Dino might not be getting this engine, but instead could pack a bespoke, 600-horsepower V6 behind the driver. The coupe would carry a price tag of around $200,000. Also, look for Ferraro to celebrate its 70th anniversary in 2017 with a car Automobile refers to as the LaFerrarina, because it would use the LaFerrari's platform for a grand-touring model. Related Video: