Tuesday, March 06, 2012
By Manoj Kumawat
After Mahindra, now Tata Motors places bid for acquisition of bankrupted Saab
The bankrupted Swedish car maker Saab, which has been going through an acquisition process, received a major acquisition bid from the Indian auto giant Tata Motors. Tata’s have placed a bid of $350 million to buy the Saab Automobiles on Tuesday. The global acquisition team of the Tata Motors has been in talks with the bankrupted Saab and private equity players. The acquisition will be done through the company’s UK based luxury car making subsidiary Jaguar & Land Rover. Saab is currently acquired by the Dutch company Swedish Automobile, which had filed for its bankruptcy after suffering huge losses.
Meanwhile, Tata Motors is yet to announce any details of this prospective acquisition, as its spokes person declined to comment when contacted by news agencies. Meanwhile Saab officials have said that at least four companies had initially placed the bids for the acquisition of this firm. Earlier, the largest Indian utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra was believed to be in race for the acquisition of this company, though there was no confirmation from the company’s side. However, the company has also reported to have placed an undisclosed bid for Saab’s buyout.
The other major bidders in the race of buyout of Saab include China based Youngman that had placed an initial bid of $300 million for this acquisition. By acquiring Saab, Tata Motors is looking forward to repeat the success saga of JLR after acquiring it in December 2008 from Ford Motors. The sales performance of JLR has been constantly improving since these firms came under the banner of Tata Motors.
