on 9 Feb 2023
The group launched a US$993m IPO in Hong Kong last year
Italy’s Ferretti Group is assessing the possibility of a secondary listing on the Milan Stock Exchange, according to local reports.
The news — published in the Italian financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore — comes after the group launched a US$993m IPO in Hong Kong last year.
It’s understood that such a listing would become the first-ever dual listing between the Hong Kong and Milan exchanges.
Ferretti Group, whose brands include Pershing, Riva, Custom Line, CRN and Wally, is owned by the Chinese conglomerate Weichai Group. The company had previously attempted a listing in 2019 but held off citing concerns over a relatively weak market and a lowered share price.
However, the boom in yacht sales linked to the pandemic has changed this perception. Share prices for Sanlorenzo, a chief competitor of Ferretti Group, rose dramatically, from €16.50 at the end of 2020 to €36.30 as of December 21, 2021.
Shortly after the IPO in March, Ferretti CEO Alberto Galassi spoke with the Financial Times.
“I am exhausted but very happy. It hasn’t been all smooth sailing, especially given the geopolitical context, but the outcome is above our expectations,” he says. “Our shareholders were extremely [confident], then we also realised the war in Ukraine is seen as further away by investors in the Asia-Pacific region, who were more comfortable to invest at this stage.”
At the 2023 Boot Dusseldorf show in January, Ferretti presented financial figures for the first nine months of 2022, which demonstrate it is on course to achieve a record year. The firm’s order intake of €1,034.2m is up 26.4 per cent on the €821.8m of Q1-3, 2021; with a net revenue of €781.1m, up 16.9 per cent on the €669.3m of Q1-3, 2021.