Race for Jaguar and Land Rover continues

A top executive at Indian automaker Mahindra & Mahindra confirmed that his company is bidding jointly with private-equity firm, Apollo Management LP for Ford's Jaguar and Land Rover units.

Arun Jaura, Mahindra's Senior Vice President for Research and Development, also said that some of the Jaguar and Land Rover brands technology will percolate into M&M's products, if Mahindra ends up owning them.

The race for Jaguar and Land Rover continues. The meeting between the short listed bidders and the Jaguar, Land Rover union is underway. The meeting between the three short-listed bidders includes Tata Motor , Mahindra and a private equity firm, one equity. In fact the representative from the government could also be a part of the meeting. Now, this is the first meeting between the union and the bidders, so it is very crucial in that terms. Meanwhile M&M has confirmed its bid and met UK Labor representatives to discuss bids along with 2 rival bidders.

The objective of the meeting is clear that Ford management wants union's consent on the sell of these two brands. They want to take Ford union's consent on whether the union is okay with choosing the winner, as they should be in line with Ford's management call. What is possible that could happen in the meeting and the main points of discussion would be the future of Jaguar and Land Rover brands. We understand that they will discuss their production and development sites, their guarantees on the union recognition rights, their workforce, terms and conditions and also on the pension arrangements.