Tata Explores Options for Struggling Jaguar Land Rover
Tata is considering alternatives ranging from a minority stake sale to finding a venture partner.
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Tata Group is exploring strategic options for its Jaguar Land Rover Automotive Plc unit including a potential stake sale in the struggling luxury carmaker, people familiar with the matter said.
India’s biggest conglomerate is considering alternatives ranging from a minority stake sale to finding a venture partner that would jointly develop vehicles and lower costs, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. The company is holding early-stage talks with potential advisers, and the deliberations may not lead to any transaction, they said.
Just over a decade after purchasing the Jaguar and Land Rover brands, the business has turned from crown jewel to burden, culminating in the biggest corporate loss in Indian history just last month when Tata drastically slashed the value of the asset. Jaguar Land Rover has been hit hard by slumping sales in China, the shift away from combustion and diesel engines, and the brand’s strong historic links to the U.K., where concern over a disruptive Brexit has weighed on demand and prompted some brands to move production.
“There is no truth to the rumors that Tata Motors is looking to divest its stake in JLR, and we would not like to comment further on any market speculation,” Tata Group said in an emailed statement. A spokeswoman for Jaguar Land Rover declined to comment on Tata’s intentions for the business.
The company would be reluctant to give up control and may prefer instead to seek fresh equity from investors such as a strategic partner or sovereign wealth fund, some of the people said.
Tata Motors’ shares surged as much as 3.7 percent and were trading at 180.3 rupees, up 1.6 percent, at 4:39 p.m. in Mumbai.
Jaguar Land Rover’s woes have grown in the past few months. Sales in China have continued to fall, and Jaguar Land Rover said in January it will cut 10 percent of its workers amid flagging demand and uncertainty around Brexit. Tata Motors wrote down the value of the business by 3.1 billion pounds ($4.1 billion).
“The U.K. stays the most important market for JLR and that market has a lot of problems due to Brexit,” Deepesh Rathore, London-based director at Emerging Markets Automotive Advisors. “With so many headwinds, JLR needs massive investments to prepare and ride the next upturn of the market.”
Jaguar Land Rover said last month it was seeking alternative funding sources as conditions were not right to borrow from the bond market. The maker of the Jaguar XE sedan and Land Rover Discovery sport utility vehicle needs to raise $1 billion in 14 months to replace maturing bonds and is also burning cash on an investment program for electric cars.
Tata Motors bought the brands from Ford Motor Co. more than a decade ago for $2.3 billion in its biggest-ever acquisition. The company has considered listing a stake in Jaguar Land Rover in previous years, people familiar with the matter have said. Moody’s Investors Service, S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings all have a negative credit outlook on Tata Motors for risks related to the U.K. business.
Land Rover still ranks as the most valuable of the marquee brands owned by Tata Group, which also controls Tetley tea and New York’s luxury Pierre hotel. The automotive marque was worth an estimated $6.2 billion last year, according to Interbrand.
In China, not only did Jaguar Land Rover had problems with the distribution network, it also overestimated the price it could charge for its cars made there, said Aston Business School professor David Bailey. And the company tried to compete in segments that were hard to crack because they were occupied by more powerful players, he said.
“JLR also tried to compete head-on with BMW in every segment, which happened to be an impossible job,” the academic said. “BMW is four times as big.”
--With assistance from Irene García Pérez.
To contact the reporters on this story: P R Sanjai in Mumbai at psanjai@bloomberg.net;Ruth David in London at rdavid9@bloomberg.net;Tommaso Ebhardt in Milan at tebhardt@bloomberg.net;David Welch in Southfield at dwelch12@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Hauck at dhauck1@bloomberg.net, Elisabeth Behrmann, Ben Scent
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