Missing the bull run

18 May 2005

The publishing group would have almost done better had it just told its broker to buy a portfolio of insurance stocks. That’s partly because it hasn’t turned Toro round. And partly because Fiat extracted too fat a premium when it sold.

This content is for Subscribers only

Context News

Toro, the Italian insurance company, is set to float on June 1. It has set a price range of E10E12 per share. It has 181m shares, implying a value for the whole group of E1.8bnE2.2bn.

Last year, Toro had earnings of E3m. Excluding writedowns, its pretax earnings would have been E250m. The group will pay a dividend of E0.44 a share after its flotation.

De Agostini, the publishing group that currently owns all of Toro, is selling a 35% stake including the greenshoe option. De Agostini bought the insurer from Fiat, the carmaker, in 2003 for E2.4bn.

Email a friend

Please complete the form below.

Required fields *