The agnelli Family and Piero Ferrari join forces to vote as a block in the newly listed Ferrari Automobile.

The top two investors in Ferrari have signed a shareholder pact giving them a total voting power of nearly 50 percent to keep firm grip on the sports car maker after it separates from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.

Under the pact Exor, the Agnelli family investment company, and Piero Ferrari, son of the sports car maker founder, will consult each other over issues to be discussed at general shareholders meeting.

In addition, in the case of Ferrari shares transferring to other investors, Exor will have a pre-emption right to buy the shares while Piero Ferrari could exercise a right of first offer, the Agnelli family investment company said in a statement.

"Now that Ferrari is beginning a new chapter in its story, our two families have signed this agreement in order to provide all the stability necessary to guarantee Ferrari's strength and its uniqueness for the future," Exor's Chairman and CEO John Elkann said.

After the separation from Fiat Chrysler, Exor will own approximately 23.5 percent in the sports car maker, equal to 33.4 percent of voting rights, while Piero Ferrari will have 10 percent of the capital, or 15.4 percent of the voting rights.

The agreement will have an initial duration of five years.

FCA created a Dutch-registered holding company for Ferrari and listed its shares on Wall Street in October. Ferrari will debut on Milan bourse on Jan. 4 in a secondary listing.

Luca di Montezemolo bids farewell to the employees of Ferrari’s GT Division

“It’s not easy…” were the words with which a visibly moved Luca di Montezemolo began his farewell address to the employees of Ferrari’s GT Division last afternoon. He was, unsurprisingly, interrupted several times with long applause from the assembled audience.

In recent days, in fact, the women and men of Ferrari had asked on several occasions for a farewell meeting and embrace with Mr Montezemolo before he leaves Maranello after 23 years. Although clearly unable to speak with each employee individually, Montezemolo was eager to meet with them as a group, having already spoken to the Gestione Sportiva Formula 1 Division before the team’s departure for the Japanese and Russian Grands Prix.

The result was that two thousand people gathered in a large marquee at the factory yesterday afternoon. After two short introductory speeches from Vice-Chairman Piero Ferrari and CEO Amedeo Felisa plus a film documenting Montezemolo’s hugely successful 23 years with Ferrari which had as its soundtrack the Gino Paoli song “Una lunga storia d’amore” (“An enduring love story”), Mr Montezemolo took the stage. 

In his address, the Chairman underscored the importance of the Maranello workers several times: “You are the power behind Ferrari, the most beautiful company in the world. You are the real architects of its triumphs. You are Ferrari.”  He recalled too the marque’s triumphs in Formula 1, in which Ferrari remains the most successful team ever, as well as the success of the Prancing Horse’s GT cars the world over.

Mr Montezemolo also told the assembled workforce that he was “proud to have lived these marvellous years with you”. He reiterated that he was certain “the future for Ferrari, which builds not cars but dreams, will remain bright because all of you are here.” He then had affectionate and emotional words to say about both Michael Schumacher and Jules Bianchi, the young Marussia driver who came up through the FDA ranks and is now fighting for his life after a dramatic accident at Suzuka. 

After Mr Montezemolo’s address, representatives of the women and men from the factory joined him on the stage for a symbolic embrace. As he left, the Chairman was engulfed by a large crowd of admirers wanting to shake his hand, take selfies with him and generally express their enormous affection and respect for this “enduring love story”.

Statement from Ferrari Chairman Luca di Montezemolo

“Ferrari will have an important role to play within the FCA Group in the upcoming flotation on Wall Street. This will open up a new and different phase which I feel should be spearheaded by the CEO of the Group.

This is the end of an era and so I have decided to leave my position as Chairman after almost 23 marvellous and unforgettable years in addition to those spent at Enzo Ferrari’s side in the 1970s.

My thanks, first and foremost, to the exceptional Ferrari women and men from the factory, the offices, the race tracks and the markets across the world. They were the real architects of the company’s spectacular growth, its many unforgettable victories and its transformation into one of the world’s strongest brands.

A warm farewell and my thanks also to all of our technical and commercial partners, our dealers across the globe and, most particularly, the clients and collectors whose passion I so wholeheartedly share.

But my thoughts go also to our fans who have always supported us with great enthusiasm especially through the Scuderia’s most difficult moments.

Ferrari is the most wonderful company in the world. It has been a great privilege and honour to have been its leader. I devoted all of my enthusiasm and commitment to it over the years. Together with my family, it was, and continues to be, the most important thing in my life.

I wish the shareholders, particularly Piero Ferrari who has always been by my side, and everyone in the Company the many more years of success that Ferrari deserves.”

Ferrari opens brand new ENZO FERRARI Museum in Modena

The new Enzo Ferrari Museum (MEF) was opened today in Modena by Luca di Montezemolo and Piero Ferrari, the son of the man who started off the amazing story of a marque recognised today as the strongest in the world.

The choice of 18 February for the reopening of the MEF was in recognition of the anniversary of Enzo Ferrari’s birth on 18 February 1898.

The new life of the spectacular museum has begun with the large and beautiful main wing: here, as well as seeing the most important cars in the history of the Ferrari driver, constructor and creator of the Scuderia, you go into a veritable “time machine” that will take visitors through 100 years of history via multiple projections that will immerse the public in images, sounds and emotions. The 18 projectors weave together the history of Modena motoring, the story of Enzo Ferrari and his deeds and the world in which it all happened.

Art, technology, design, battles and new hopes make up the setting for the triumphs of the great drivers and the most outstanding scarlet cars.

The MEF, which has been entrusted to Ferrari by the Foundation owning the building – made up of the Modena institutions: Commune, Province, Chamber of Commerce and Automobile Club, with the significant support of the Cassa di Risparmio Foundation – further enriches the area’s attractions that are already numerous, starting with the Ferrari Museum in Maranello.

From today the two Ferrari museums, which are open every day of the year except for Christmas and the New Year, complement each other in a perfect way: in Modena there’s the story of the man who created everything and the cars of his time. In Maranello there’s the Ferrari of today and tomorrow, presented via a past of success on the track and the roads.