[Amazing]

Economic Times :

Tata Motors has placed a $350 million bid to buy bankrupt Swedish car maker Saab Automobile, a newspaper report said Tuesday, citing people it said were aware of the matter.

"Tata's global acquisition team has been in negotiations with Saab and private equity players for a prospective acquisition by its Jaguar-Land Rover unit," a newspaper reported, quoting an unnamed source.

Tata Motors' spokesman declined to comment when contacted.

Last month, Saab officials said that at least four companies had placed preliminary bids for a buy-out -- most of them from outside Sweden.

Saab, owned by Dutch company Swedish Automobile, filed for bankruptcy in December after numerous failed deals to keep it afloat.

All of Saab's assets would be for sale, the company has said.

Tata Motors, which also makes the world's cheapest car, the Nano, bought British luxury brands Jaguar and Land Rover from US Ford Motor in 2008 for $2.3 billion as part of its plans to expand beyond Asia.

Source /LINK:
Tata Motors places $350 million bid for Saab Automobile: Report - The Economic Times

[vinod332002]

Read this article as well. Didnt ET report earlier that M&M could be in the running to pick up Saab? (link: M&M readies bid for bankrupt Saab - The Times of India)
If both reports are true, its staggering. Out of four prospective buyers, 2 are Indian companies.

[prmd_cochin]

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[urajkumar]

This is indeed impressive to know and shows the economic status & stability of Indian Companies. However while we end up buying companies outside with the earnings from India, the question is how does it benefit us in India finally? How soon can technology, expertise and models be shared?

The reason for being skeptic is because I am yet to see a significant difference in TATA vehicles after Jag/Range Rover buyout & like wise with M&M (XUV work started much before) acquisition of Saasyong as well.

[2cents]

Obviously they are in it for the technology. But beats me why Tata is getting into it through JLR? I don't think SAAB has anything to add to JLR - neither brand value, nor technology. As for Mahindra, market access could be another reason.

[lurker]

Companies like Tata have stopped investing in India post Singur and are thus taking their Capital out of India and investing in Euro companies. And it seems that the UPA govt is also alright with this and is even trying to privatise Indian banks, healthcare, insurance and sell them off to shady private investors or to global buyers. Looking at the big picture it seems that there is well a sinister undercurrent that is swirling all around the economy post UPA-2.

[aniketi]

Tata have already proved all world wrong with the JLR deal. everybody was saying it was very costly deal for Tata. Latest results has shown that Tata is making lot of money now. Always remember that Tata always takes decision considering long term view & not short term. Soon we will get to know whats their strategy if they win the deal.

[directinjection]

SAAB is a fringe player manufacturing just about 1 lac cars annually. Even for that, it is dependent on GM for technology. So what exactly will Tata gain by acquiring the SAAB brand is questionable. The only positive seems to be the low cost of acquisition.

GM had earlier threatened to cancel the technical licenses given to SAAB to prevent the company from going into the hands of Chinese buyers whom GM considers a threat. GM may be more sympathetic to Tatas which might well win this deal. More details about the GM role here:

Former owner GM blocks Saab takeover

[akhilesh51]

Similar sentiments were made vocal by industry bigwigs upon acquisition of Jaguar-Land Rover but look how it turned out. Today, TM profits are largely due to operations in iconic british brand so much so that the financial figures of acquired brand totally eclipse parent company.

Originally Posted by urajkumar

This is indeed impressive to know and shows the economic status & stability of Indian Companies. However while we end up buying companies outside with the earnings from India, the question is how does it benefit us in India finally? How soon can technology, expertise and models be shared?

The reason for being skeptic is because I am yet to see a significant difference in TATA vehicles after Jag/Range Rover buyout & like wise with M&M (XUV work started much before) acquisition of Saasyong as well.

Such acquisition do focus on technology sharing which is obviously good for the tech-starved parent company and cash-stripped acquired company but most of such learnings do take time to filter into parent company per se. At the same time, technology sharing is never the sole reason of such acquisitions.

JLR acquisition doen not mean that the next SUV from Tata stable will be Land Rover image or the manza converting into an XF. Atleast not anytime soon. Both companies work on different philosophies catering to set target customer and information sharing hence is very discreet and long term.

Further, it must be understood that all companies are in the run for making money. They are free to make investments to their liking if overall company can be kept in green and eventual investors are happy. Hence, Tata is free to invest its capital and cash reserves in any company it pleases as long as it has the nod of its prime investors. So, such investments could be purely a result of financial planning with or without any implication to the actual Tata Motors vehicle business.

Originally Posted by 2cents

Obviously they are in it for the technology. But beats me why Tata is getting into it through JLR? I don't think SAAB has anything to add to JLR - neither brand value, nor technology. As for Mahindra, market access could be another reason.

JLR is the rich sibling of Tata Motors at present. Its financials are far more profitable than TM and hence it makes sense to invest money through JLR. Such decisions are purely finance based in nature and have nothing to do with technology.

VW owns Audi which in turn owns Bugatti. In essence, VW is basically using its capital to minimise the risks, balance profits and make more money for its investors regardless of technology share pattern between the three company.

[KiloAlpha]

Saab is a small-time car manufacturer. Too small to be able to survive as an independent. But, they have 2 things going for them, which is probably what TATA are after:
1. An enormous engineering talent pool (which took GM platforms and made them desirable!)
2. Brand value in Europe and, maybe to some extent, North America & Australia/NZ.

Tata is probably using its JLR arm to buy out Saab because of the Europe angle - it is one EU company buying out another. Legally, it might just be easier that way.

Also, remember that BMW kept ownership of a few iconic British brands after selling off Rover. They did not do much with them for a while, but when they did, they came up with the new Mini. Tata buying the Saab brand might hint at a similar strategy?

[indivic]

Originally Posted by directinjection

SAAB is a fringe player manufacturing just about 1 lac cars annually. Even for that, it is dependent on GM for technology. So what exactly will Tata gain by acquiring the SAAB brand is questionable. The only positive seems to be the low cost of acquisition.

GM had earlier threatened to cancel the technical licenses given to SAAB to prevent the company from going into the hands of Chinese buyers whom GM considers a threat. GM may be more sympathetic to Tatas which might well win this deal. More details about the GM role here:

Former owner GM blocks Saab takeover

I would have said turbo charged petrol engines which made them very popular in Europe and USA. Unfortunately, the last such engine from SAAB is already GM's.

It seems GM has sold off the IP of the first gen Saab 9-5 and 2 gen old Saab 9-3 to a Chinese company. So what remains is only the current gen Saab 9-5 and the mysterious 9-X. May be Tata liked what he saw as in case of JLR.

[.sushilkumar]

Originally Posted by Amazing

All of Saab's assets would be for sale, the company has said.

If above in Bold is true, i guess TATA;s / mahindra are on right path . with this acquisition , they will get technology as well but i am also skeptical as there were reports earlier that the current owner has refused to part away with technology and patents . One of the primary reason , SAAB;s Talks with Chinese failed earlier .

But if they have put everything on block now including patents , IMO it;s a good deal..

Originally Posted by indivic

It seems GM has sold off the IP of the first gen Saab 9-5 and 2 gen old Saab 9-3 to a Chinese company. So what remains is only the current gen Saab 9-5 and the mysterious 9-X. May be Tata liked what he saw as in case of JLR.

As a Fact , a American company will never sell anything Including IP rights to a chinese company even if technology was developed in 17 th century . there is too much hostility between Chinese & Americans for obvious reasons to let that happen.

[mayankjha1806]

There seems to be some confusion with Ratan Tata himself denying any interest in failed Swedish auto firm Saab.

Full news article here (Tata Denies interest in Saab……Another rumour ! « Motorvation Saab's Blog)

[indivic]

Originally Posted by .sushilkumar

As a Fact , a American company will never sell anything Including IP rights to a chinese company even if technology was developed in 17 th century . there is too much hostility between Chinese & Americans for obvious reasons to let that happen.

My bad, since I did not quote the source

UPDATE 3-BAIC in overdrive to develop brand with Saab tech | Reuters

[tsk1979]

Do not write off Saab. Technology which Saab has is quite exclusive. their cars were more expensive than the competition, but the reason was that the cars were extremely safe, and over engineered.
Saab went down because they refused to compromise on their obsession for quality. Maybe some of that will rub on TATA!