Ferrari, the Italian sports car company with a flair for fashion, filed to go public in a deal that could raise $1 billion and help fuel its luxury lifestyle ambitions.
Fiat Chrysler is spinning off the firm but is expected to continue to have a roughly 80 percent stake following the IPO. Ferrari is known for sexy sports cars and racing championships, but in it’s regulatory filing, the company stressed that it was a lifestyle luxury play with plans to expand its brand.
Ferrari licenses its sunglasses with Oakley, its shoes with Tod’s and its sportswear with Puma. The brand also has watch licenses with Hublot, which makes cobranded luxury timepieces, and Movado, which produces the Scuderia Ferrari watch.
Chairman Sergio Marchionne wants to be seen as a luxury brand, not unlike Prada and Hermès. The company said in the filing, “We expect over time to expand the Ferrari brand into a range of other luxury goods and in adjacent lifestyle categories though third-party licensing and partnerships.”
Last year, Ermenegildo Zegna, chief executive officer of Ermenegildo Zegna Group, joined the board of Fiat Chrysler, which has been trying to marry fashion design with cars for some time. Zegna designed interior for Maserati, while Gucci designed one for the Fiat 500.
In March, Ferrari opened a Milan flagship and, overall, has 32 stores and one theme park, in Abu Dhabi.
The company said it is well positioned to expand the presence of the Ferrari brand in the lifestyle categories of sportswear, watches and accessories. Analysts believe the company can also monetize its image suggesting clubs or hotels.
Ferrari shipped 7,255 cars last year and has eight different models, with prices starting at 150,000 euro, or about $164,000 at current exchange.
The Italian-based company booked 2.8 billion euros, or $3.06 billion, in sales for 12 months ending in March 2015 and plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange.