Exor, liquidity of 4 billion to invest in large companies
Elkann: 'Solid balance sheet, we look at new opportunities without haste'
Key points
- Liquidity of 4 billion
- Focus on luxury technology and healthcare
- Nav drops to 33 billion
"2025 was a difficult year, but now we are more resilient. We have fewer companies in our portfolio, we want to focus mainly on the big ones where we think there is more value. We are interested in managing companies, not just acquiring them."
John Elkann, Exor's number one and largest shareholder, in the conference call with financial analysts on the 2025 accounts, sketches the new identikit of the holding company to which Stellantis (15.5%) Ferrari (21%) Philips (19%) and Cnh (26.9%) belong.
The solidity of the holding company
The starting point, Elkann notes, is the solidity of the holding company: 'Having almost 4 billion in liquidity puts us in a strong situation. In a situation of uncertainty we are very solid'. Important resources that, without haste, can also be invested in sectors currently outside the company's perimeter.
Exor, Elkann emphasised, continues to focus on technology, luxury and healthcare, but is also open to seizing different opportunities thanks to a solid balance sheet and strong liquidity from recent and upcoming divestments. "We are not excluding ourselves from better opportunities, should we find them, but without rushing. In times like the one we are experiencing it is necessary to be prudent and patient. And we want to be patient enough to preserve capital and to seize the best possible opportunity,' Elkann says the day after the announcement of the sale of the Gedi publishing group to the Greek Antenna. This is not the only divestment carried out by Exor, which also sold Iveco's defence business to Leonardo and is preparing to sell its entire commercial vehicles group to India's Tata Motors before the summer. The Lifenet and Nuo holdings were also sold. All this brings the liquidity available for investments to over EUR 3.5 billion. 'In a situation of uncertainty we have a balance sheet as solid as a fortress,' underlines Elkann, who is thinking of 'a significant new investment, in terms of size and ambition, similar to the one in Philips'.
