Culver City Observer -

Courts Allows Bids, Sale uncertain

The Los Angeles Superior Court has allowed bids be taken for Ferrari Maserati Beverly Hills with the caveat that prospective buyers be informed that the dealership is not currently for sale. The dealership, ranked as the largest dealership in the world, has become the centerpiece in the bitter divorce battle between dealership president Giacomo Mattioli and his wife Alexandra Warren.

According to court records, the two have spent almost $3 million in legal fees wrangling over an estate, valued by some sources in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

“Neither the interests of Mr. Mattioli nor of Ms. Warren in the Beverly Hills Ferrari or Maserati dealerships, nor in any other entity, are for sale in any fashion, nor are they available to be out for bid of any type.” according a written statement issued by Larry GinsbergMr. Mattiolo’s attorney , he went on to add, “A court order has been issued by the Los Angeles Superior Court that at any solicitations for the purchase of an interest in the auto dealership must include an assertive representation that, in fact, the dealership is not for sale.”

At the center of the dispute is the prized Ferrari dealership in Beverly Hills, described as “extremely valuable” by Sheldon Sandler, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Bel Air Partners, the preeminent financial advisor of automobile dealerships in the United States, and a leading authority on the role of financial markets in automobile distribution, dealership valuations and automobile dealership consolidation.

Sandler stated that with approximately 30 Ferrari dealerships in the country, Beverly Hills Ferrari was “uniquely valuable because of its specific location and because of the brand.”

He added that the dealership should bring “one of the highest multiples in the car world.” Dealerships are valued on a multiple of their annual earning.

Sources said the Beverly Hills dealership was the largest volume dealership in the world.

The dealership is located in the swank Wilshire Boulevard corridor of Beverly Hills between Crescent and Cannon Drives just blocks from Rodeo Drive.

The move by the court appears to signal that Mattioli will have to buy out Warren’s community property interest in the dealership, according to court observers.

Mattioli, a lawyer, was part of Ferrari’s legal department and worked at Ferrari North America headquarters in New Jersey prior to his tenure and purchase of the Beverly Hills store.

In 1998 Mattioli reportedly purchased about 30 percent of the Beverly Hills dealership from the factory and according to the dealership’s website has become the largest grossing Ferrari dealership in North America. Mattioli and Warren married in December 2000 and he acquired a Ferrari dealership in Orange County after the marriage that was later sold. Then Mattioli reportedly bought most of the remaining stock in the Beverly Hills dealership. This was followed by the acquisition of a Maserati dealership in Pasadena which was eventually closed and combined with the Ferrari store in Beverly Hills, according to sources.

He is also President and Managing Partner of Ferrari Maserati Silicon Valley.