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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").

Macron and Le Pen decry 'shocking' Stellantis CEO pay

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron and his far-right challenger in the French presidential vote, Marine Le Pen, on Friday both decried as “shocking” the multimillion euro payout to the CEO of carmaker Stellantis. Stellantis CEO Carlos TavaresÂ’ remuneration package of 19.15 million euros just a year after the company was formed became an issue as Macron and Le Pen campaigned ahead of the April 24 runoff vote. Polls show purchasing power and inflation are a top voter concern. Stellantis was formed last year through the merger of PSA Peugeot and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Centrist President Emmanuel Macron, perceived by many voters as being too pro-business, called the pay package “astronomical” and pushed for a Europe-wide effort to set ceilings on “abusive” executive pay. “ItÂ’s shocking, itÂ’s excessive,” he said Friday on broadcaster France-Info. “People canÂ’t have problems with purchasing power, difficulties, the anguish theyÂ’re living with, and see these sums. Otherwise, society will explode.” Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who enjoys support from many working-class voters, called for bringing in more workers as shareholders. “Of course itÂ’s shocking, and itÂ’s even more shocking when it is the CEOs who have pushed their society into difficulty,” she said Friday on BFM television. “One of the ways to diminish this pay, which is often out of proportion with economic life, is perhaps to allow workers in as shareholders.” Stellantis continued to back the package despite a 52.1% to 47.9% vote rejecting it at an annual shareholders' meeting chaired from the Netherlands, where the company is legally based, on Wednesday. The company, citing Dutch civil code, noted that the vote is advisory and not binding. The company later said in a statement that it took note of the vote, and will explain in an upcoming 2022 remuneration report “how this vote has been taken into account.” In the 2021 report, the company identified peer group companies that it used as a salary benchmark, including U.S. companies like Boeing, Exxon Mobile, General Electric as well as carmakers Ford and General Motors. Stellantis, whose brands include Peugeot, Fiat, Jeep, Opel and Maserati, reported net profits last year had tripled to 13.4 billion euros ($15.2 billion). The French government is the third-largest shareholder in Stellantis, with a 6.15% stake through the Bpifrance Participations S.A. French public investment bank.

Ferrari picks up ex-Sauber driver Esteban Gutierrez as test pilot

With McLaren's long-awaited confirmation of Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button, the grid for the 2015 Formula One World Championship is finally complete. (That is, at least, aside from the bankrupt Caterham and Marussia teams, whose fate for next season still remain open.) But with the big game of musical chairs now drawn to a close, not everyone who had a seat this year will have one the next. And that includes one Esteban Gutierrez, who lost his ride with Sauber but has landed a test driver role with Ferrari instead. Gutierrez climbed up through the formula racing ladder, winning the 2008 Formula BMW Europe and 2010 GP3 titles before getting his start as a test driver with the Sauber team – a role which he held for two seasons while simultaneously putting up a good fight and winning races in GP2. Sauber promoted him to the race seat in 2013 (when he placed a career-best seventh place at the Japanese Grand Prix) and kept him on board for another season. But after failing to finish in the points even once this past year, both he and veteran team-mate Adrian Sutil were both replaced for next season. Taking their place will be Marcus Ericsson (who drove for Caterham this year) and newcomer Felipe Nasr (who served this season as test driver at Williams). That's left Gutierrez without a race seat, but Scuderia Ferrari has snapped him up as its official test and reserve driver for next season. In that capacity he'll be offered the chance to drive top-flight machinery and hone his skills with a front-running team, and will be on standby should either Sebastian Vettel or Kimi Raikkonen be unable to drive at one grand prix or another. Most of the other teams have yet to confirm their third drivers, but Williams recently announced it was promoting Susie Wolff to the job and McLaren confirmed Kevin Magnussen was bumped down for next season to make way for Alonso. The move may strike some as odd since Gutierrez is not part of the Ferrari Driver Academy development program, but Sauber has long shared close ties with the Maranello-based team. Ferrari supplies engines to Sauber, which in turn sometimes graduates drivers to the Scuderia. Former Ferrari drivers Felipe Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella both drove for Sauber, and current drivers Vettel and Raikkonen both got their starts there as well. A Mexican driver is back to Maranello Maranello, 15 December 2014 – Ferrari announces that, as from next season, Esteban Gutierrez will become part of the Scuderia workforce.