Tata looking to raise £1 billion to keep Jaguar, Land Rover going
We don't know how many times through the millennia one gentleman has told another, "Be careful with her – she's beautiful, but she's expensive." We would like to know if Alan Mullaly offered that warning to Ratan Tata (above) before the latter bought Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR). As with the Blue Oval before it, Tata Motors is about to throw billions at the English luxury marques and it is looking for help doing it.
Tata wanted the British government to guarantee a £340 million loan ($515M USD) Tata received from the European Investment Board. The government refused to underwrite the entire amount, and it was written that the government additionally wanted Tata to invest up to another £400M ($605M) in JLR (on top of the £900M ($1.36B) Tata pitched in last summer) and put £50M ($76B) on the table before it would underwrite anything. The government is also said to have wanted veto power on top executive choices and labor plans.
Those talks, unsurprisingly, went nowhere. Now Tata is looking to banks for £1 billion ($1.5B) in cash and underwriting help. Citigroup is has begun the search for lenders to provide the money by September, which everyone expects to come with heavy-duty interest rates. With the state of the market and Tata's other recent purchases, 2009 is shaping up as an expensive year for the Indian company.
[Source: Global Motors | Image: Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Getty]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Shamdiddly 1:41PM (5/11/2009)
That man has the eyebrows of gods.
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GT 7:16PM (5/11/2009)
Despite your racist comment, airsuckman, Tata builds not only cars, but makes trucks, Tea (which tata is most famous for, Tetley) and many other food products, telecommunications (Satellite TV, phone service provider), raw materials (tata steel) and other "heavy industry." Many other indian companies have multiple branches in different industries. And seeing how Tata's been around longer than the Big 3, (or Big 2 now?) i'm pretty sure they know how to run a series of heavy industries.
reddy 1:09AM (5/12/2009)
@airswingman
you obviously don't know the facts and its funny that it is actually you who is passing this empty racist comment.
ratan tata is no rick wagoner, you obviously don't know a bit about this great entrepreneur
cj 1:46PM (5/11/2009)
Article:
£50M ($76B)
I know Dollar depreciated some, but I'm sure 50 million pounds is not 76 billion dollars.
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Farmboy 2:22PM (5/11/2009)
Just checked. It is $75.555 billion technically.
Protzenegger 4:44PM (5/11/2009)
or $75.555 MILLION in actuality.
planetautomatic 2:29PM (5/11/2009)
The Right Answer : >> 50 million pounds is $83,222,888.10
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bob 2:35PM (5/11/2009)
Do Jaguar and Land Rover make a profit? Ever?
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Adam 2:43PM (5/11/2009)
No, they have never directly made a profit. Now being a british car owner myself (MG) I know that they have indirectly made profits for any companies that supply lubricants seeing as how the brits are experts at having cars "mark their territory"
And now for the jokes:
Q: Know why the British don't make computers?
A: They couldn't figure out how to make them leak oil!
For those of you who have never had the pleasure of owning a British car, but want to know what it's like: Next big rainstorm, wait till dark, roll down all windows, leave off lights & heater & wipers and go for a drive. Stop at every intersection and throw out a twenty dollar bill. It's not exactly the same, but it's real close.
Q: Why are Jaguars "Collector" cars?
A: Becaue you drive everywhere twice. First you drive there - and they you drive again to collect all the pieces that fell off...
British_Rover 12:20PM (5/12/2009)
Land Rover made some where around one billion USD in profit last year according to more then a few articles in the Times and quoted on Top Gear
TMan 3:01PM (5/11/2009)
Who is going to lend a company, who never makes a profit money. I see this as a sinking ship.
TATA should have seen this coming before they bought JAL but I guess they had their blinders on.
Any thoughts on whether they will also close their Experience Centers / Driving Schools which are nationwide.
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xtasi 4:29PM (5/11/2009)
Tata may keep some workers in UK (wood, leather craftmen) and move assembly to India where labor would be a lot cheaper.
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Pi 4:52PM (5/11/2009)
Land rover made profit last year, their best year ever since they exist.
jaguar was getting better and better, expecting to be profitable this year...without the credit crunch
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Avinash machado 1:55AM (5/12/2009)
Seems like Jaguar and LR are like boat anchors.
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