Sports carmaker Ferrari is following up its successful Wall Street listing with a stock market launch in Milan, as it begins a new era as a stand-alone company free of the mass-market associations of its former parent, Fiat Chrysler.
The company, famed for its Formula 1 racing machines and coveted red roadsters, began trading Monday morning, the first business day of the year, at 43 euros under the RACE ticker. The shares slipped to 41.75 euros in a broadly lower market, were briefly suspended and then climbed to 41.90 euros.
Ferrari made its public debut on the New York Stock Exchange in October. When it closed on the NYSE on the last day of 2015, the price was $48 (about 44 euros).
The new company, which completes its separation from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles SpA, is controlled by Exor SpA, the Agnelli family holding company that also controls Fiat Chrysler, with a 23.5-percent share, and Piero Ferrari, founder Enzo Ferrari's son, who retains a 10-percent stake.
"With the listing, a new chapter is opened," for Ferrari, said its chairman, Sergio Marchionne, who also heads Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Marchionne called the development a "new threshold, a new starting line" for the prestigious brand.