VW is looking for buyers for Ducati
01.08.2017
M ith the motorcycle manufacturer Ducati, the brand portfolio of the VW Group had grown to 12 brands in 2012. VW subsidiary Audi bought the Italian motorcycle manufacturer for 860 million euros. Ducati never really wanted to fit into the portfolio of the car company.
Supervisory board shoots across
After Ferdinand Piëch left VW, the company seems to be changing course. As the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported at the end of April, the VW group had already commissioned an investment bank to find a buyer for the company. Everything is still in an early phase, there is neither a potential buyer nor a time for the sale. The potential sales price is around 1.5 billion euros. As Manager Magazin reported at the time, there should be a first prospective buyer from the Far East who would have offered a billion euros for the Italian cult brand. However, the bidders had not yet had a look at the Ducati books. Now there is internal resistance to a possible sale. As the Handelsblatt reported on Monday (July 31, 2017), there is no majority for a sale in the supervisory board. The employee representatives on the supervisory board do not want a sale and the Piëch and Porsche families should not be convinced of it either.
Many interested parties for Ducati
The Handelsblatt reported in mid-June that there were now around half a dozen Should give a dozen potential buyers. In addition to Harley-Davidson, the Indian Bajaj group as well as the financial investors KKR, Bain Capital, Permira and Investindustrial are said to be interested in the Italian cult brand. Bajaj already has a 48 percent stake in the Austrian motorcycle manufacturer KTM. Harley-Davidson had already tried it in 2008 with an Italian motorcycle manufacturer and bought MV Agusta /Cagiva. The Italian sports motorcycles should complement the cult Harley models.
In 2010, the Americans parted ways with MV Agusta because they were financially in dire straits. In 2014, Daimler then took a 25 percent stake in MV Agusta. As the Handelsblatt further reports, the first provisional bids should be expected in July. Harley-Davidson turned on the investment bank Goldman Sachs. Volkswagen is in no hurry to sell, it said in corporate circles. There will probably be no graduation before the EICMA motorcycle fair in Milan in November. 'It is important to us that Ducati comes into good hands,' said the person familiar with the plans.
DieReuters news agency wants to know from other potential buyers. Allegedly the Italian Benetton family is also interested in the motorcycle manufacturer. Likewise, the Indian car manufacturer Eicher, who already has control of Royal Enfield, one of the oldest motorcycle brands in the world. But Polaris Industries, which among other things offers the Indian brand and only crushed the motorcycle manufacturer Victory again at the beginning of the year, is said to be interested in Ducati.
Ducati had built 55,451 motorcycles in 2016, a turnover of 731 million euros and a profit of 51 million euros. The return on sales was 7.0%. Ducati currently employs 1,558 people worldwide. The Bologna-based motorcycle manufacturer's sales network includes 780 dealers in 90 countries.
