Piaggio floats

Piaggio, the Italian scooter brand, has floated on the Milan Stock Exchange. The offering at €2.30 per share, at the bottom of the indicative range of €2.30 to €3, was 2.4x oversubscribed. The IPO price gave Piaggio a market capitalisation of €887m.

Shareholders in the 122-year old company, which include Morgan Grenfell and the company’s lending banks, have earned €274.4m from the float, and could raise a further €43.6m if an over-allotment option is exercised.

Piaggio’s largest shareholder, Immsi, a holding company owned by Roberto Colaninno, the former head of Telecom Italia, will not be selling its 40% stake.

Morgan Grenfell has held its interest in the company since 1999. The business came close to bankruptcy in 2003 before the intervention of Colaninno.