Ferrari partnership helps Spanish bank Santander secure top IPO role
Sponsorship helps Spanish lender secure top role in supercar brand's IPO
Banco Santander's sponsorship of Ferrari placed the name of Spain's biggest lender across the chassis of the Italian Formula 1 supercar.
It has also helped its lesser-known securities unit secure one of the most coveted briefs for the world's top investment banks.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles picked Santander as one of three underwriters that will lead the initial public offering of Ferrari, a company it values at more than US$11 billion.
Santander beat competition from Wall Street firms including JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley, said sources familiar with the talks, and would work alongside UBS Group and Bank of America Corp.
"If we had not been a long-standing partner, we would never have got the mandate," said Georg Orssich, Santander's global head of corporate and investment banking. "It's a deal with an unusual amount of visibility. There is a very strong relationship there."
Santander's late chairman Emilio Botin and Luca di Montezemolo, the former chairman of Ferrari, signed a deal in Monza, Italy, six years ago allowing the lender, which shares the same red corporate livery as the "scuderia", to have its brand name displayed on the marque's racing cars.