Pininfarina Family May Lose Control in the Company

WCF / Pininfarina Sintesi at Geneva

Mounting debts beckon

By Thami Masemola
March 11, 2008 10:48 AM
Filed Under: Corporate/Financial, European, Pininfarina, Specialty Marques

The Pininfarina is set to lose control of its world-famous label after the company announced that it will propose a €100 million increase in capital. The reason for this drastic move is to finance its ballooning debt which increased from €129.9 million in 2006 to €185.4 million last year.

By issuing that stock, the Pininfarina family would effectively lose their 55 percent shareholding through dilution, although the company said it was still too early to speculate on how much/little the family would hold after the capital increase. One of the new investors is French battery guru Vincent Bollore with who Pininfarina will commence building an electric car in 2010. This is the product the company is pinning its hopes on a turnaround on, four-seater, with an anticipated production run of 15,000 per annum.

Last year the company suffered major losses to the tune of €114.9 million which is more than double the €21.9 million loss of 2006.

Source: Autonews

Comments

BabyMilo
March 11, 2008 12:38 PM
fugly look car i dont like it...

Bremen_Koenigsegg
March 12, 2008 12:48 AM
Totally not the point of the article, buddy; please keep your comments relevant.

Bremen_Koenigsegg
March 12, 2008 12:48 AM
With any luck, they won't be bought by someone meddlesome; with any luck, the future controllers of Pininfarina will understand that, as an automotive design studio, the objective is not to make money. It would be a modern-day tragedy to have Pininfarina's designs diluted by penny-pinches and ill-witted individuals.

michelin901
March 12, 2008 10:29 AM
yeah strange to hear abt their debts when they are the ones who have designed most of the ferraris n maseratis n what not.

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