Tata at pole position to buy Jaguar, Rover

LONDON: Tata, the conglomerate headed by Ratan Tata, has moved into pole position in the 1.5 billion pounds race to buy Jaguar and Land Rover, two of Britain's most prestigious car marques.

Quoting sources close to the negotiations , The Sunday Times , on Sunday reported that positive meetings last week between Ravi Kant, managing director of Tata Motors, and trade union and government officials have given the conglomerate an edge over its rivals.

It still faces stiff competition from One Equity, an American private-equity group, and Mahindra and Mahindra, the Indian car group that is bidding with Apollo, another American buyout firm.

Ford, the American automotive giant that is selling the two marques, could choose a preferred bidder within the next three weeks. The company is selling Jaguar and Land Rover as a single unit.

One Equity's bid is led by Jac Nasser, a former chief executive at Ford.

While Jaguar is loss-making - it is feared to lose about 500 million dollars this year - Land Rover is going through a purple patch.

The report quoted sources at the bidding teams to say they expect the business to make more than 1 billion dollars this year, a remarkable result given the weakness of the US dollar. America is one of Jaguar and Land Rover's biggest markets.

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com