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Ferrari officially files SEC paperwork to register future IPO

Late last year FCA announced plans to spin off Ferrari into a separate company, and after a long wait that process has finally become official. The Prancing Horse has now filed the necessary prospectus and other documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission to hold an initial public offering on The New York Stock Exchange. The paperwork doesn't mention a specific date for the Italian sportscar maker's IPO, but it's expected sometime in October. At this point, the documents also don't include some other vital data about the IPO. Ferrari lists neither the number of shares being offered nor their price. The company also doesn't have a stock symbol yet. UBS, BofA Merrill Lynch and Santander are acting as joint book runners for the deal. As part of the IPO, FCA initially intends to sell 10 percent of Ferrari's shares on the stock market. Another 10 percent of the company still belongs to Piero Ferrari. FCA is holding onto the remaining 80 percent in the short term for financial reasons but intends to distribute them to shareholders in early 2016. After the spin-off, about 24 percent of Ferrari would be owned by Exor, 10 percent by Piero Ferrari, and 66 percent by public shareholders, according to the SEC documents. FCA boss Sergio Marchionne believes that Ferrari could be worth over $11 billion. Although, his estimate might be slightly high. According to Reuters, Wall Street is actually putting the value somewhere between $5.5 billion and $11 billion. If you're thinking about investing in the company or just want to read the nitty-gritty about the brand's financial health, the entire SEC filing can be read here. Ferrari Files for Initial Public Offering LONDON, July 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. ("FCA") announced today that its subsidiary, New Business Netherlands N.V. (to be renamed Ferrari N.V.), has filed a registration statement on Form F-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") for a proposed initial public offering of common shares currently held by FCA. The number of common shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined, although the proposed offering is not expected to exceed 10% of the outstanding common shares. In connection with the initial public offering, Ferrari intends to apply to list its common shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

FCA seeks partner to keep building Dodge Dart, Chrysler 200

Mere weeks after FCA announced it was shutting down production of the Dodge Dart and Chrysler 200, new hope emerges to give the sedans a stay of execution. Speaking at the Geneva Motor Show last week, Sergio Marchionne said that the company was looking for a partner "who is better at it than we are and who has got capacity available" in order to continue building the models on its behalf. "There are discussions going on now," said Marchionne, according to Motor Trend. "I think we will find a solution. We continue to talk. It's both a technical solution and an economic one. We need to find a solution that works economically." Contracting vehicles to be manufactured offsite is more common practice among European automakers than it is with American ones. Chrysler's former patron Mercedes, for example, has the G-Class built for it by Magna Steyr in Austria, the A-Class by Valmet in Finland, and the R-Class by AM General in Indiana (even though it's no longer sold in the US). This arrangement would, on the surface at least, appear more similar to the deal that Toyota struck with Mazda to build the Scion iA, drawing on the contractor's expertise and capacity to build the small sedan on the client company's behalf. Only rather than basing a new model on one of the partner's existing ones, this deal would ostensibly continue building FCA models on FCA platforms using FCA components. We'll have to wait to find out with whom FCA strikes up the manufacturing deal, but we wouldn't be surprised to see Marchionne turn to a partner he already knows. The company is, after all, at the center of an intricate web of joint ventures and manufacturing contracts. The Fiat 124 Spider, for example, is built by Mazda. The Fiat Sedici that preceded the 500X was built by Suzuki. Models like the Dodge Stealth and Eagle Talon were built in Illinois at the Diamond-Star Motors joint venture before Mitsubishi took it over altogether. And Dodge continued selling the Mercedes-made Sprinter long after DaimlerChrysler split. The Ram ProMaster, though built by FCA in Mexico for the North American market, stems from a partnership in France with PSA Peugeot Citroen. And the ProMaster City is built in a joint-venture plant in Turkey, from which it's also sold by GM as an Opel in Europe and a Vauxhall in the UK. With all those deals coming and going, after all, what would one more add to the complexity?

Peugeot maker PSA posts record profits ahead of FCA merger

PARIS — Peugeot maker PSA Group said its profitability reached a record high in 2019 but the French carmaker forecast falling industry sales in Europe this year as it pursues its merger with Fiat Chrysler, which is strong in North America. PSA has trimmed costs in areas such as the procurement of components as it has integrated its acquisition of Opel and Vauxhall, boosting operating margins to 8.5% last year. The group, which also produces cars under the Citroen and DS brands, offset a slump in vehicle sales by selling pricier SUV models, with launches including the Citroen C5 Aircross helping to lift revenues by a higher-than-expected 1% to $81.2 billion (74.7 billion euros). That helped it stand out in a car market where some rivals including France's Renault have struggled with sliding revenues and profits, amid a broader downturn in demand. PSA's group net profit increased 13.2% to a record 3.2 billion euros, and the company increased its dividend against 2019 results to 1.23 euros per share, up 58% from 2018 levels. The carmaker was "once again very solid", analysts at brokerage Oddo-BHF said in a note, adding the results confirmed the company's "best-in-class status." However PSA forecast a 3% contraction in Europe's car market this year, by far its biggest market. The tie-up with Fiat Chrysler will help it gain exposure to that group's strong presence in North America with brands like Jeep. The two companies struck a deal in December to create the world's No.4 carmaker, to better cope with market turmoil and the cost of making less-polluting vehicles. Fiat also posted more upbeat results than most rivals this year. CORONAVIRUS WEIGHS PSA boss Carlos Tavares told a news conference that the two groups were both in good shape and well placed to face market challenges together. He said he did not expect any major regulatory hurdles to the merger, adding it had so far submitted 14 approval requests to competition authorities out of the 24 it needs. There are no immediate plans to change anything in the large portfolio of brands within the combined group, he added. However the companies still face problems this year, including the coronavirus outbreak which has paralyzed production in China and hits carmakers' supply chain. PSA said the coronavirus impact was still difficult to assess. It factories in Wuhan, at the epicenter of the outbreak, are due to reopen in the second week of March.