“Let’s start again from Made in Italy” – Corriere.it

«Ferretti returns home and it will be a starting point, not an arrival point. This is where the race starts». Look as always to the future Alberto Galassi, the Modenese lawyer and managing director of the Ferretti group, who will arrive at Piazza Affari next Tuesday with his luxury yachts. In fact, the IPO for the listing on the Milan Stock Exchange was concluded positively, after that of Hong Kong in 2022. The offer price was set at 3 euros per share, while the gross proceeds amounted to approximately 265 million euro for approximately 26.1% of the share capital of the company, one of the world leaders in the maxi yacht sector, with brands such as Riva, Wally and Pershing. The shareholder . At the time of the landing on the Stock Exchange (on 27 June precisely), the market capitalization of the company will be equal to approximately one billion euros.

The «dual listing» between Milan and Hong Kong

«In Milan there is a deep-rooted culture for understanding our sector. Companies are evaluated on the basis of results, projects and people. Listing ourselves in Milan is a natural choice: we are a made in Italy luxury company and this is where we were born – said Galassi -. What is extraordinary is that we have succeeded in the aim of the dual listing», also coveted by famous fashion houses. «We have opened a path that many others will follow, and it is the first time in the history of an IPO on the Stock Exchange of a company already listed in Hong Kong. It was 9 months of hard work», also thanks to the great collaboration of the Italian and Hong Kong authorities who facilitated the regulatory issue. “We now have the largest free float in the industry,” he added. There is strong interest from leading Italian and international institutional investors, who number more than 70. «In a difficult market we are very satisfied with the result also for the quality of the investors. Coverage is 70% international and geographically global: US, Europe, Middle East. A beautiful recognition of a lot of work and Italian know-how», which will translate into an expansion and strengthening of the company’s institutional shareholding structure.

Iervolino and the Czech Komarek among the main investors

After the IPO, reserved for institutional investors and funds, there are three main shareholders to emerge from the new composition of the share capital: among the “anchor investors” there are in fact Daniel Iervolinoformer patron of Salernitana and publisher of BFC Media and L’Espresso, Karel Komarekthe Czech entrepreneur who founded the KKCG group and the fund Chimera Abu Dhabi, having subscribed approximately 46% of the total shares on offer (88,454,818 shares on the market) equal to approximately 13% of the company’s share capital. «I like the idea that the quotation in Italy actually coincides with a anchor Italian. It’s not just parochialism or a sterile narrative but it’s a way of saying that we believe in Made in Italy», the entrepreneur from Campania told LaPresse, who was supported by Unicredit in the operation. «I am proud and happy to participate as an anchor investor in the Ferretti project. The group has the most prestigious brands in the nautical world – Riva, Pershing and Itama -, flagships of Made in Italy. The idea is that there is a huge opportunity for growth of the company, of the brands, of extending the possibility of services, of going to important markets yet to be explored, such as the Asian one, and all this with an extraordinary management». he added.
The stake of the selling shareholder, ie the Chinese from Weichai who held 67% of the share capital, “now drops to around 35%” underlines Galassi. “We owe them only gratitude. No Italian company believed in Ferretti’s rebirth 12 years ago. They do”.

The challenge starts again from Piazza Affari

The listing on Piazza Affari is not the first attempt by the company, which had already attempted the listing in 2019 but was not successful. What has changed since then? “Everything changed. First, market conditions were particularly difficult then. Then, we opened up to a sector that was unknown. We were once again forerunners in making known a sector that is not easily commensurable by traditional operators and investors». Great expectations for next Tuesday instead. “Like every time a freshman comes to a new school, you have to demonstrate your results on the field. We did it in Hong Kong. We did it in 2019 when we met the same investors to whom we demonstrated that we kept what we promised. We focus on numbers and results». What’s in Ferretti’s future? “We are volcanic – concluded Galassi – with too important a shareholding to stop here”.