Ferretti SpA, the Italian maker of Riva yachts, plans to file for an initial public offering in the next few days after receiving approval from shareholders, Chief Executive Officer Vincenzo Cannatelli said.

Ferretti, which is 60 percent-owned by private-equity firm Candover Investments Plc, wants to both expand its current operations and buy new companies, Cannatelli said today before a luxury-goods conference on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia.

Ferretti has purchased eight companies in 12 years. The company’s sales are rising by 20 percent a year by selling yachts that cost at least 2 million euros ($3 million.) Clients that want a “mega-yacht,” which are 45 meters long and sell for at least 40 million euros are on a waiting list until 2012, the CEO said. London-based Candover, the manager of a 3.5 billion-euro buyout fund, completed its purchase of Ferretti in January 2007, valuing the company at 1.5 billion euros.

“The company is ready,” said Cannatelli in a Bloomberg interview. “The company is focused on growing both by expanding into new markets such as Russia, the Middle East and Asia as well as through introducing new products.” Details of the IPO haven’t been decided, Cannatelli said. Buyout firm Permira Advisers LLP and Ferretti’s managers, the previous owners, own the outstanding 40 percent of the Forli, Italy-based yachtmaker. Ebitda

The company reported a 23 percent increase in production value of 950 million euros in the fiscal year ending August 2007 and a 33 percent increase in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of 158 million euros, Cannetelli said.

The yacht maker was founded in 1968 by Alessandro and Norberto Ferretti and generates about 75 percent of sales outside Italy, including 15 percent in the U.S. Revenue has increased in the past four years on stronger demand from Russia and the Middle East and orders for bigger boats.

More than 70 percent of the company’s sales come from exports, said Cannatelli. Ferretti plans to introduce a new boat with a hybrid gas- electric motor in Milan in the next few weeks to respond to consumer demands for products with alternative fuel sources.

Mediobanca SpA and Merrill Lynch & Co. will act as joint global coordinators of the offering, Ferretti said in a statement yesterday. Citigroup Inc. and UBS AG will be joint bookrunners.