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Breaking Motorcycle News on Clutch and Chrome!
Ducati motorcycles
receives takeover bid
By the Staff of Clutch and
Chrome
February 19th, 2008
Three investment firms like
a winning Italian
motorcycle manufacturer so
much, they want to own the entire company.
Ducati Motor Holding SpA,
received a takeover offer for as much as $576 million from
its three controlling shareholders, private equity firms
Investindustrial SpA and BS Investimenti and partner
Hospital of Ontario Pension Plan.
 The equity firms which
already own collectively almost 30 percent of Ducati will
offer 1.70 euros a share for the rest of the Bologna,
Italy-based manufacturer, the investors said in a statement
today.
Investindustrial and its partners agreed in December 2005 to
buy their controlling stake in Ducati from Texas Pacific
Group, now known as TPG Inc. The investors appointed a new
chief executive officer last May. Ducati shares reached a
seven-year high on July 23 and until today's announcement
had declined 37 percent.
Upon the release of the statement, Ducati shares rose 28
cents, or a record 20 percent, to 1.68 euros in Milan after
being suspended from trading earlier today pending the
announcement. The offer is 22 percent more than yesterday's
closing price.
An interesting turn of financial events bearing in mind
Ducati's shares fell to a nine-month low in January 2008
after Citigroup Inc. said the shares are "fully valued.''
The stock fell 10 cents, or almost 8 percent, to 1.20 euros.
Ducati laid out a plan in
mid-January to target an annual sales growth of 10 percent
by adding more profitable models and boosting revenue from
merchandising. The maker of high-performance motorcycles
posted net income of 13.3 million euros in 2007, its first
full-year profit after three years of losses. |
