Latest word on the VW group’s plans to sell Ducati is that the Benetton family has entered the fray as a potential buyer.
Reuters has been behind several of the latest stories around the Ducati sell-off. It now says that the Benetton family has bid around $1.2 billion via its investment company Edizione Holding. Volkswagen, which owns Ducati via its Audi arm, values the firm at around $1.4 billion.
Other companies said to have placed bids for Ducati include Royal Enfield owners Eicher Motors and fellow Indian firm Bajaj. Bajaj already owns a large stake in KTM. Polaris Industries is also said to have a bid in the running. It currently owns Indian and recently closed its Victory brand.
The growing list of potential new owners also includes Investindustrial. That’s the company that used to own Ducati and sold it to VW for 860 million Euros in 2012. CVC Capital, which is flush with money having recently sold its stake in F1 to Liberty Media, is another potential suitor.
What about Harley?
Much has been made of Harley-Davidson’s potential buyout of Ducati. Harley’s facing a tough time in sales and looking at layoffs at the moment, though. The latest Reuters information is that the American firm has decided against making a bid. Harley opted to close down its own sporting arm, Buell, in 2009. It also had a brief, unhappy spell in which it owned MV Agusta. So spending a fortune on another sportsbike-oriented company seems not to make much sense.
Chinese firm Loncin has also been mentioned as potential buyer. Its rival, QianJiang, already owns Benelli. Ducati’s technical know-how and strong brand would be massively valuable to such a company.
The firm that VW has employed to investigate the sale of Ducati, Evercore, is due to whittle the potential buyers down to a shortlist in the near future.
