Autoblog

While a lot of the media's attention towards the impending sale of Jaguar and Land Rover has been focused on the former and not the latter, it came as a surprise to hear that Tata might unload Jag soon after the deal goes down.

According to sources speaking with InsideLine, Tata purchased a 450-acre swath of land in Gurgaon, outside of New Delhi, for the explicit purpose of building Land Rovers. That's going to be a tough pill to swallow for LR's labor unions, which supported the sale of the both companies last year after Tata became the top bidder.

The source went on to say that "... Jaguar will be spun off almost immediately." To whom remains a question, but one of the other automaker's vying for a piece of the British meat pie could soon be in the race again.

[Source: InsideLine]

According to numerous published reports today, Ford is expected to announce within days that India's Tata Motors will be the preferred bidder for the Jaguar and Land Rover brands. Assuming this happens, look for Tata to pay Ford up to $2 billion USD for the pair of iconic British marques. As has already been reported here and elsewhere, the British labor unions have come out in support of the Tata bid, and the Indian company also has Fiat lined up to help show it the ropes when it comes to managing major European brands. Tata has also stated that the three British factories used to produce Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles will be retained. We'll keep tabs on the developments, since it now sounds like some sort of announcement is imminent.

[Source: The Sunday Times]

Just about a year ago we reported that former Ford CEO, Jacques Nasser, was interested in possibly buying Land Rover and Jaguar. It was kind of ironic, given the fact that Nasser had been instrumental in the acquisition of LR and Volvo during his tenure at Ford. Well, it's deja vu all over again as word has spread that Nasser is set to tour those British companies in the very near future. Working under JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s One Equity Partners LLC, he is expected to meet with trade union officials while there to discuss a possible purchase. No comment from Ford yet.

One Equity is seen as a master of the quick flip, having banked a 79% gain on Polaroid when they sold it after just two years of ownership recently. We're not sure what their plans for the two marques would be, but reports seem to indicate that One Equity wants Ford to retain 30% to 50% of these firms to "ensure security of engines and parts supplies." When Ford shed Aston Martin earlier this year, Ford retained a 15% stake in the company. So Nasser sets up PAG while with Ford and might end up having a hand in it being dismantled. Interesting world.

[Source: Detroit Free Press]

The New York Times is reporting that Ford is expecting to wrap up its sales of Jaguar and Land Rover by September 30, and of Volvo by the start of winter. Fresh off its shedding of the majority of Aston Martin, Ford has made the decision to rid itself of a majority of shares in the other premium brands under its corporate halo. The legal and financial people have already started working on the bidder information packets, according to Times sources.

While the Jag/Rover sale has been public for a little while, it wasn't until just last week that Ford publicly acknowledged it was looking for bids for Volvo, which they've controlled since 1999. Jaguar was purchased in 1990 and Land Rover a decade later in 2000. Among the bidders for Jag/Rover are recent Chrysler Group buyer, Cerberus Capital Management, as well as TPG and Tata Motors. Although BMW has been mentioned as a possible suitor for Volvo, it's still too early in the process to get a list of names together.

[Source: NY Times via just-auto, sub. req.]

Could Land Rover and Jaguar be headed to Russia? CNN Money is reporting that Group GAZ is showing some interest in purchasing the firms from Ford. Ford has said that it will entertain offers for the two British marques and although several names have been mentioned, this was the first we heard of GAZ being involved. GAZ has already denied the rumor, although it was pointed out that the company has expressed an interest in expansion. This comes almost exactly a year after GAZ first denied interest in Jaguar in a separate sale rumor.

If it is interested, GAZ would be on a list of potential suitors that includes private equity firms Cerberus and One Equity Partners, plus new entrants Tata Motors and Mahindra, as well as newcomers American equity firms TPG and Ripplewood Holdings. Of course, all of this is still contingent on Ford really committing to the idea of a sale at all. Concerns about what a sale of these prestige brands could do to Ford's worldwide reputation are still keeping the company from serious work on a sale.

As we reported last week, Ford hasn't given any of the bidders a complete financial picture of Jaguar and Land Rover, nor have any of the bidders even been allowed to visit the factories or speak to senior management. Potential buyers have only been told not to bid if they plan on closing factories or moving production out of Britain. We'll keep you posted.

[Source: CNN Money]

The latest companies tipped to be interested in buying Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford is Middle-Eastern investment funds Dubai International Capital and Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Development Company (MDC). According to the UK's Observer newspaper, both investment funds have ordered financial advisers to prepare a proposal for one or both of the carmakers. An official from MDC has since denied the claims, and there's still no word from the other investment firm or Ford.

The report also claimed that the deal could be worth up to $6 billion and that British unions would prefer the investments funds to take over rather than private equity groups because of fears of job security. It was revealed earlier that private equity firms Cerberus, Blackstone and Bank One Corporation were also interested in the sale, the latter with former Ford CEO Jacques Nasser as a senior partner.

Just last week, Ford's president for the Americas Mark Fields told reporters that Ford was "continuing to evaluate everything" in regards to the impending sale, which means it's likely to become a very drawn out affair.

[Source: MSNBC]