If India's Tata Group drives off with US auto giant Ford's iconic British brands Jaguar and Land Rover, it would be another feather in its cap after buying European steelmaker Corus earlier this year.
British media reports say loss-making Ford could announce as early as late yesterday that the Tatas, reported to have bid around US$2 billion, had been named the top choice for buying the storied luxury carmakers.
It would be the year-end icing on the cake for India's biggest private sector group, which bought Corus for US$13.7 billion in January, and also another sign that cash-flush corporate India's foreign acquisition drive has shifted into high gear.
Tata's chief executive officer, the 69-year-old Ratan Tata, credited with transforming a sprawling, unfocused tea-to-trucks conglomerate into a global player, had long promised the group would "spread its wings far beyond India."
If the family-run conglomerate gets Jaguar and Land Rover, it will be in the unusual position of manufacturing two of the world's most prestigious cars as well as one of the world's cheapest.
Tata plans to unveil in January its "people's car" or one lakh car -- one lakh representing 100,000 rupees (US$2,500) -- aimed at getting more of India's working poor off their motorbikes and into cars.
Tata officials in New Delhi had no comment on Thursday on an article in Britain's Birmingham Post quoting an unnamed source at Land Rover as saying: "It is definitely Tata."
"We're keeping our fingers crossed," said an official, who did not wish to be named.
The Birmingham Post quoted union leader Des Quinn as saying the Tata bid "is in the best interest of our members."
"They come from a manufacturing background, and the experience of other people they have taken over has been good. They are cash-rich and they can afford the price, as well as invest in the future," Quinn was quoted as saying.
Tata Motors' net profit rose by 21 percent in the first half of this fiscal year to 9.9 billion rupees (US$250 million). Tata launched its first passenger car in 1991, before which it was best known for its trucks.
"The deal is prestigious and the [new] brands could emerge as strong revenue earners over a long term of five to six years," said Mahantesh Sabarad, auto analyst at Mumbai brokerage Prabhudas Lilladher.
"We do not see a loss in brand value for the luxury cars if they move to the Tatas," he added, a reference to complaints by US car dealers, who felt Indian owners would be a turnoff for upscale buyers.
An announcement in favor of Tata would mean the Indian group had beaten off competition from rival Indian firm Mahindra and private equity group One Equity Partners.
London's Times newspaper quoted Ratan Tata, member of one of India's blue-blooded business families, as saying he saw no conflict of interest in having a diverse portfolio starting from the "people's car" to Jaguar and Land Rover.
"How a company manages products in different sectors is the key. Toyota created Lexus, Nissan has Infiniti. No one is saying `how can BMW handle the Mini?' But they've made a huge success of it. So why is it impossible?" he asked.
The Tata Group has 98 firms and began emerging as a force in the world marketplace in 2000 when it bought Tetley Tea, Britain's top tea-bag brand.
By the time Ratan Tata retires in six years, analysts reckon that international revenues could make up at least 50 percent of group revenues.
The Tata Group, founded in 1868, is a colossus at home, with annual revenues of US$29 billion, the equivalent of 3.2 percent of India's GDP, and is the biggest private employer, with 289,500 people on its payroll.
On Thursday it was named the world's third most accountable and transparent company by Britain's One World Trust, an independent research group. General Electric and GlaxoSmithKline were rated numbers one and two.
The Tata Group's founder, Jamsetji Tata, was a strong philanthropist. He accommodated his steel workers in a model company town in eastern India and his employees worked just eight-hour days -- unheard of in that era.
"He believed the primary purpose of an industrial organization is to improve the quality of life of the community," declares the company Web site, a spirit company officials say endures to this day.
The popular Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) arbitrage trade might soon see a change in dynamics that could affect the trading of the US listing versus the local one. And for anyone who wants to monetize the elevated premium, Goldman Sachs Group Inc highlights potential trades. A note from the bank’s sales desk published on Friday said that demand for TSMC’s Taipei-traded stock could rise as Taiwan’s regulator is considering an amendment to local exchange-traded funds’ (ETFs) ownership. The changes, which could come in the first half of this year, could push up the current 30 percent single-stock weight limit
EARLY TALKS: Measures under consideration include convincing allies to match US curbs, further restricting exports of AI chips or GPUs, and blocking Chinese investments US President Donald Trump’s administration is sketching out tougher versions of US semiconductor curbs and pressuring key allies to escalate their restrictions on China’s chip industry, an early indication the new US president plans to expand efforts that began under former US president Joe Biden to limit Beijing’s technological prowess. Trump officials recently met with their Japanese and Dutch counterparts about restricting Tokyo Electron Ltd and ASML Holding NV engineers from maintaining semiconductor gear in China, people familiar with the matter said. The aim, which was also a priority for Biden, is to see key allies match China curbs the US
Teleperformance SE, the largest call-center operator in the world, is rolling out an artificial intelligence (AI) system that softens English-speaking Indian workers’ accents in real time in a move the company claims would make them more understandable. The technology, called accent translation, coupled with background noise cancelation, is being deployed in call centers in India, where workers provide customer support to some of Teleperformance’s international clients. The company provides outsourced customer support and content moderation to global companies including Apple Inc, ByteDance Ltd’s (字節跳動) TikTok and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. “When you have an Indian agent on the line, sometimes it’s hard
‘SACRED MOUNTAIN’: The chipmaker can form joint ventures abroad, except in China, but like other firms, it needs government approval for large investments Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) needs government permission for any overseas joint ventures (JVs), but there are no restrictions on making the most advanced chips overseas other than for China, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. US media have said that TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker and a major supplier to companies such as Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp, has been in talks for a stake in Intel Corp. Neither company has confirmed the talks, but US President Donald Trump has accused Taiwan of taking away the US’ semiconductor business and said he wants the industry back
RSS