THE venture capital consortium that won the auction for Aston Martin this year
is to consider joining the race for Ford’s £3bn ($5.9bn, e4.5bn) Jaguar and Land
Rover marques.
David Richards, the motoring entrepreneur backed by Investment Dar, a Middle
East venture capital group, told The Business: “Because of my relationship with
Aston Martin and Ford Motor Company, it is obviously something we will consider
when something is formalised. But I don’t believe there is a formal process up
and running yet.”
Richards is the first carmaker to publicly express interest in the latest brands
Ford is considering selling. It is part of a drastic restructuring aimed at
refocusing the US car giant on its core business and improving profits.
While a sale has not been decided, Ford said on Tuesday it is working with
advisers to sort out the future of the two brands, which have been rumoured to
be up for sale for more than a year.
Richards said: “There are obvious synergies, carmaking synergies, [between the
brands] but there is a lot of discussion to be had before I would even get
involved with that.
“I have been concentrating on Aston Martin the past few months and it is only
recently that I have put that to bed.
“This [Jaguar] is a very complex business that requires significant
restructuring. It would need to be done with a fair amount of diplomacy to
manage all the stakeholders.
“It would be a fairly high-profile activity and we have seen one of those go
completely wrong in the form of Rover. Ford is responsible in this respect, and
if it does sell it would want to be sure it is going to sensible people.”
Other interested parties are expected to be private equity groups prepared to
pay a premium for the cachet attached to the loss-making brands.
Last month, Cerberus, an American private equity firm, bought an 80.1% stake in
Chrysler from German carmaker DaimlerChrysler.
Read Article