Agnellis to boost M&A warchest with Iveco sale, source says

By Giulio Piovaccari

MILAN (Reuters) -Proceeds from the sale of truckmaker Iveco and its defence arm will boost the Agnellis' warchest for deals, but the Italian business dynasty would not have to wait for the cash to make a big purchase, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The cash pile of Exor - the Agnellis' investment company - has been on investors' radar since it sold part of its stake in Ferrari in February, saying it could use the proceeds for a major acquisition when the opportunity arose.

Exor said in March that tech, healthcare and luxury were its preferred sectors for future investments, but did not rule out other opportunities.

The sale of Iveco and its defence arm will boost Exor's coffers to more than 4 billion euros ($4.6 billion), according to Reuters calculations.

The source told Reuters that the sales had no immediate bearing on Exor's evaluation process for investments, although the funds would facilitate any large acquisition it might make.

The two Iveco deals will not be completed before next year.

An Exor spokesperson declined to comment.

India's Tata Motors last week agreed to buy Iveco in a deal valuing the truck and bus maker at 3.8 billion euros. Iveco separately agreed to sell its IDV defence business to Leonardo for an enterprise value of 1.7 billion euros.

Exor, which has a 27.1% controlling stake in Iveco, will raise around 1.5 billion euros in total from the two deals. That will add to its existing funds earmarked for investments, worth around 2.6 billion euros.

Exor raised 3 billion euros from the Ferrari sale, of which it used 1 billion for a share buyback. The company already had 600 million euros of available liquidity at the end of 2024, its annual report showed.

Besides Ferrari, Exor has controlling stakes in companies including industrial machine maker CNH and Italian soccer team Juventus. It is also the largest single shareholder in automaker Stellantis and Dutch health tech company Philips. Other investments range from fashion to media.

In an investor presentation in March, Agnelli family leader and Exor CEO John Elkann said that, going forward, the company would be looking at investments similar to the stake it took in Philips two years ago.

Exor has invested over 3.5 billion euros in building a 19% holding in Philips. It has said it could raise that to 20%, which at current prices would cost about 220 million euros.

In 2021, Exor explored a possible tie up with fashion group Giorgio Armani but a deal never materialised, and Elkann later said no further talks were being held.

But as the famed Italian designer ages, speculation has been growing again about the future of his fashion firm.

($1 = 0.8762 euros)

(Reporting by Giulio PiovaccariEditing by Giselda Vagnoni and Mark Potter)