The title of the Italian group, whose pricing was delayed by half an hour due to low volumes traded, closed with a fall of 10.23% in Milan.
The manufacturer of trucks and buses Iveco Group, controlled by the Agnelli family, ended up taking the somewhat winding road to the Milan Stock Exchange on Monday, following having been coveted for a long time by the Chinese automobile group FAW Jiefang.
The Iveco Group share, the price of which had been delayed by half an hour due to the low volumes traded, fell 10.23% at the close to 10.10 euros, following being introduced at the price of 11, 26 euros.
The capitalization of Iveco Group thus reached only some 2.74 billion euros, less than expected by analysts and well below the price offered by FAW Jiefang, which was ready to pay 3.5 billion euros.
But this transaction was met with the refusal of the Italian government, very cautious at the idea of seeing Chinese groups seize sectors considered strategic for the country, especially as Iveco also manufactures military trucks.
Two days following the entry into force of its split from the Italian-American group CNH Industrial, Iveco Group has thus followed, with less success, the example of its German competitor Daimler Truck, which was introduced in December with great fanfare on the Paris stock exchange. Frankfurt.
Before Daimler, it was Volkswagen which sold in June 2019 a minority stake in its heavy goods vehicle division Traton, to facilitate its global expansion and give it more visibility.
Iveco Group brings together several branches of CNH Industrial: trucks (Iveco), buses (Iveco bus and Heuliez), powertrain (FPT Industrial), military vehicles (Astra), firefighting (Magirus) and financial services (Iveco Capital).
“Historic stage”
“Our first day of listing marks a historic milestone as we become a fully independent company,” said Iveco Group CEO Gerrit Marx following ringing the bell at the opening ceremony on the Milan Stock Exchange.
The general meeting of shareholders of CNH Industrial had approved at the end of December by a very large majority the split of the group born in 2013 from the merger of the Italian Fiat Industrial and its American subsidiary CNH Global.
“We have all the conditions required for long-term success, starting from a solid foundation,” assured Mr. Marx, as investors were more than reluctant to start Iveco on the stock market.
CNH Industrial has kept the production of agricultural and construction machinery. Its title lost 2.26% to 14.69 euros at the close, following technical adjustments due to its new reduced scope. During its last listing before the split, CNH finished at 17.07 euros.
The main shareholder, the Agnelli family via its holding company Exor, will retain 27% of the capital and 41.68% of the voting rights of Iveco Group, i.e. the same stake it holds in CNH Industrial.
Ambitious goals
The goals that Iveco has set for itself are ambitious. The group forecasts revenues of 16.5 to 17.5 billion euros by 2026, following recording a turnover of 11.9 billion euros in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic, and 10 , 4 billion in 2020.
As for the adjusted net profit, it should reach between 600 and 800 million euros by 2026, once morest 300 million euros in 2019, according to the group’s strategic plan.
Behind Daimler, Iveco is number two in Europe in bus production and has been able to increase its market share in the marketing of heavy goods vehicles from 5% to 8% over the past two years, according to a spokesperson for the group.
Like other truck manufacturers, Iveco will have to drastically reduce air pollution from its vehicles and announced in November to aim for “net zero emissions” by 2040.
To achieve this, the group, which employs 33,500 people in 36 countries, intends to make greater use of natural gas, biofuels, hybrid technologies as well as electricity.
Iveco therefore plans to develop a range of fully electric buses by 2023 and a new range of 100% electric and fuel cell heavy goods vehicles by 2024.
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