Industry News
Fresh reports of Ford actively seeking buyers for remaining PAG brands
11th June 2007
Media reports this morning say that Ford Motor Company has retained the investment banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to find a buyer or buyers for Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo Cars. Automotive News Europe quotes unnamed sources in support of the story, while the London free sheet City AM features an interview with Jon Moulton, managing partner of the private equity group Alchemy Partners which bid unsuccessfully for MG, saying he is “very interested” in a bid for Land Rover and Jaguar in particular, which he would seek to turn into a lower volume business if his prospective £3bn bid were successful.
The same paper suggests that other possible suitors for Ford’s PAG brands include Renault, Prodrive's David Richards, who recently acquired Aston Martin with a Kuwaiti-funded consortium, and David James, the accountant who acquired the rights to manufacture a car using smart roadster components and designs from DaimlerChrysler.
The stories circulating today add that Ford and Fiat SpA recently called off talks on the latter’s potential acquisition of PAG brand businesses.
Editorial commentary on an interview with BMW Group sales and marketing director Michael Ganal in today’s German business weekly Wirtschaftswoche suggested that BMW Group was looking to add a fourth brand to its portfolio besides BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce, and was interested in Volvo Cars. In the interview itself, Ganal mentions the desirability of greater cooperation with DaimlerChrysler; at present, BMW and DaimlerChrysler are partners with GM in hybrid drivetrain development.
Ford’s most recent public pronouncement indicated it had no plans to sell Jaguar, Land Rover or Volvo Cars in the foreseeable future.
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