‘For sale’ sign goes up at cash-cow Ferrari

FERRARI is up for sale. Well, a small slice of it could be next year as part of a revenue-raiser for parent company Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, the car-making giant has announced.

Details are still sketchy, but FCA is believed to be preparing to sell off a 10 percent stake of its Italian cash cow, listing the privatised stake on the US stock market, as well as potentially in Europe.

According to reports, the remaining stake in the Maranello supercar maker and F1 aspirant will be distributed to shareholders in the Dutch-registered, US-listed and London-based Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.

Analysts have estimated that the standalone Ferrari business could be valued around €5 billion ($A6.3 billion).

The decision to shed the exotic car-maker comes as the newly merged Fiat Chrysler attempts to raise funds to help the Italian side of the business complete its takeover of the US car brand.

As part of the takeover, the recently formed Fiat Chrysler Automobiles plans to spend almost $A60 billion in an effort to make-over its product line-up and stay competitive against the likes of General Motors, Ford, Volkswagen Group and Toyota.

FCA’s third-quarter financial results, launched overnight alongside the announcement about Ferrari’s future, show the car-making giant posted a €188 million ($A268m) pre-tax profit for the period, on par with the same three-month period last year.

While the parent company’s performance was relatively flat, its Maserati and Ferrari sports car divisions were the stand-outs.

Maserati more than doubled sales in the third quarter – shipping 8896 vehicles, up from 3953 in the same period last year, as buyers warmed to its new Ghibli saloon and diesel Quattroporte – for a pre-tax profit of €90m, up from €43m.

Despite building one-fifth the number of cars as Maserati, Ferrari clocked up a similar pre-tax profit of €89m, about the same as last year, even with a one-off €15 million in “compensation costs” related to the departure of former chairman Luca di Montezemolo.