Superyacht maker Ferretti presses ahead with $1 bln HK listing despite choppy markets -sources

Sanlorenzo SpA

17/03/2022 11:38

By Scott Murdoch and Valentina Za
    SYDNEY/MILAN, March 17 (Reuters) - Italian luxury yacht
maker Ferretti is expected to kick off on Monday the process to
list its shares in Hong Kong, aiming for a valuation of around
$1 billion as it sells a 25% stake, two sources close to the
matter said.
    Ferretti, controlled by Chinese conglomerate Weichai Group,
is pushing ahead with its initial public offering (IPO) despite
the conflict in Ukraine rattling financial markets and hitting
shares in the the superyacht sector.
    The pre-marketing phase ends on Friday and the company,
which ditched a previous IPO attempt in Milan in 2019, could
still change its plans depending on the market.
    Ferretti has sought to play down the impact of international
sanctions against Russian oligarchs on its business. It has said
that countries involved in the conflict account for less than 3%
of its revenues and it has no exposure to the largest
mega-yachts more likely to be targeted by sanctions.
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    Shares in listed Italian rivals such as Sanlorenzo  SNL.MI 
and The Italian Sea Group  TISGR.MI  plunged in the wake of
Russia's invasion of Ukraine, shedding between a quarter and a
third of their value, but have cut losses in the past 10 days.
    Ferretti met investors and analysts over the past two weeks,
and is slated to launch the institutional offering on Monday,
broadening it to retail investors the following day, one of the
sources said.
    It aims to raise around $300 million by selling newly-issued
shares for an overall valuation of $1.2 billion, the source
said. A second source pointed to a $900 million valuation.
    Both sources said shares are expected to start trading at
the end of March. IPOs in Hong Kong normally take around four
days with another five days before the trading debut.
    Ferretti is expected to use the proceeds to expand its yacht
range while also developing services such as yacht brokerage and
chartering.
    Ferretti filed with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange at the end
of December, with investment bank CICC as sole sponsor.    
    Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained more than 5% on Thursday,
adding to Wednesday's 9% surge driven by the prospect of fresh
Chinese economic stimulus.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nB9N2VA06E
    

 (Editing by Keith Weir and Elaine Hardcastle)
 ((valentina.za@thomsonreuters.com; +39 02 6612 9526;))