Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Historic Day For Indian Business - Tata acquires Jaguar, Land Rover from Ford

March 26, 2008 will forever be a historic day for India Inc., India, and the Indian Business.

Tata today acquired two of the most celebrated, royal and revered auto brands in the history of automobiles - Jaguar and Land Rover - for $2.3 billion from Ford Motor company.

Tata Sons and Tata Motors chairman Ratan Tata, said, "We are very pleased at the prospect of Jaguar and Land Rover being a significant part of our automotive business. We have enormous respect for the two brands and will endeavour to preserve and build on their heritage and competitiveness, keeping their identities intact. We aim to support their growth, while holding true to our principles of allowing the management and employees to bring their experience and expertise to bear on the growth of the business."
Just hours after Tata issued a low-key announcement to confirm it had "entered into a definitive agreement with the Ford Motor Company for the purchase of Jaguar Land Rover, comprising brands, plants and Intellectual Property Rights", the top bosses of Unite, the UK's largest trades union, said the deal "is really good news for the UK automotive industry".

The UK India Business Council, (UKIBC) the lead organization supporting the promotion of bilateral trade, business and investment opportunities between the two countries, said the deal was an outstanding example of the UK's open economy. Its Chief Executive Sharon Bamford said the purchase was in line with "many significant (cross-border) deals in recent years (namely) Vodafone's acquisition of Hutch and Tata's previous acquisition of Tetley and more recently Corus, are leading examples of this".

UKIBC Chairman Lord Karan Bilimoria said, "Tata's purchase of Jaguar and Land Rover is only the latest example of the newfound confidence of Indian companies. Less than two months ago I sat in the new Tata Nano, and I witnessed history in the making. Indian companies are growing more confident in the global economy, and with this deal the country is on the move like never before."
Tata is poised to become a global brand with this acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover. India Inc. will now enter the world of autos besides the world of software and steel.

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