MILAN, March 16 (Class Editori) — Ferretti Group, the historic manufacturer of luxury yachts, has started the pre-marketing, which will last until Friday, precursor to the listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange through an IPO which is all a capital increase.
The issuance of new shares will allow to collect 300 million dollars and could value the company around 1 billion dollars, against an expected free float that should amount to about 25% of the capital.
The operation, which was only presumed until a few weeks ago, now seems to be aimed at achieving the long-awaited goal of listing, whose profits, at least for about 70%, will be used to expand the Group's portfolio and to improve activities, with the development of new super yachts models.
The remainder will be used to strengthen ancillary services such as yacht brokerage, chartering and management. Initially it seemed that the listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange might have happened around mid-2022, while currently everything suggests that the bell may ring much earlier.
The bookbuilding's timetable has not yet been confirmed, but it was estimated it could take between two and two and a half weeks, thus suggesting that the price will be set towards the end of March. China International Capital Corporation (CICC) is involved as sponsor of the operation in Hong Kong, being also one of the global coordinators together with Intesa Sanpaolo and BNP Paribas.
The superstition remains alive in the Ferretti household, also because of the still vivid memory of 2019 events, when the Group was forced at the last minute to withdraw from the listing in Milan due to valuations considered excessively low by CEO Alberto Galassi.
At that juncture, advisors and investors asked that the placement take place at a much lower price than the initially proposed range, between 2.5 and 3.7 euros per share, corresponding to a pre-increase equity value between 627 and 928 million euros, which would correspond to a post-increase capitalization between 727 million and 1.076 billion euros.
Instead, in order to meet market demands, the placement price was brought within a range between 2 and 2.5 euros per share, a level considered too unrewarding by Galassi. Suffice it to say that in spring 2019 pre-money valuations for Ferretti of around 750 million euros were circulating, based on a multiple equal to 14 times the 2018 EBITDA (which was just under 53 million against 609 million euros in revenues).
Now, however, the wind would seem to have turned in its favour, thanks in part to the results of the first nine months of 2021, with net profits amounting to 32 million euros, almost 6 times those of the previous year (5.7 million euros).
The Chinese conglomerate Weichai Group —which ten years ago saved the Group from bankruptcy by taking over the majority of its shares— now controls an 86.1% share in it, while F Investments, managed by Piero Ferrari, holds an 11.1% share, the rest being in the hands of Adtech Advanced Technologies (2.8%) and Butler Management.
(Source:Class Editori)
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