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Old 23rd October 2016, 20:16   #1
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Mahindra acquires BSA Motorcycles for 28 crores

Mahindra acquired 100% stake in BSA for around Rs. 28 crore

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Indian auto major Mahindra and Mahindra has acquired the UK-based two-wheeler manufacturer BSA Company for 34 lakh Pounds (around Rs. 28 crore).

In a statement to the stock markets, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd says, "CLPL, a subsidiary of the Company, has on October 21, 2016 acquired 100% of the share capital of BSA Company Limited." Classic Legends Pvt Ltd. (CLPL) is an arm of the Indian brand, and purchased all 1.2 lakh shares of BSA at a consideration of 28.33 Pounds per share.
Mahindra further added that this acquisition will enable Classic Legends to acquire or obtain license of the BSA brand and utilise the same for selling marketing, distributing motorcycles globally. The principal activity of BSA is licensing of brands related to motorcycles. Incorporated in the UK, the company has also presence in Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, USA, Mexico and Canada.

SOURCE: http://www.carandbike.com/news/mahin...?category=News

Last edited by GTO : 25th October 2016 at 08:28. Reason: Slight edit to the link (using regular, not mobile)
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Old 23rd October 2016, 21:44   #2
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re: Mahindra acquires BSA Motorcycles for 28 crores

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Originally Posted by a4anurag View Post
Mahindra acquired 100% stake in BSA for around Rs. 28 crore



Mahindra further added that this acquisition will enable Classic Legends to acquire or obtain license of the BSA brand and utilise the same for selling marketing, distributing motorcycles globally. The principal activity of BSA is licensing of brands related to motorcycles. Incorporated in the UK, the company has also presence in Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, USA, Mexico and Canada.

SOURCE: http://m.carandbike.com/news/mahindr...?category=News

Wow!! 28 crores is cheap for such a historical brand in my opinion.

Does this mean that nobody else was ready to pay higher?

Rachit
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Old 24th October 2016, 07:43   #3
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re: Mahindra acquires BSA Motorcycles for 28 crores

Wow. This is a brilliant acquisition. Such a lovely iconic Brand. Right from WW 1 onwards, the BSA bikes have been like a mainstay of the British Army "Despatch Riders".
I just hope that they allow the brand to flourish and keep up its "cult" appeal.

Amazing the way our Indian manufacturers are snapping up all these great marques!
I guess here's where the money is!
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Old 24th October 2016, 12:11   #4
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Re: Mahindra acquires BSA Motorcycles for 28 crores

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Originally Posted by Rachit.K.Dogra View Post
Wow!! 28 crores is cheap for such a historical brand in my opinion.

Does this mean that nobody else was ready to pay higher?

Rachit
28 crores for a brand that has not earning any revenue (let alone profits) for decades!

Imagine how much faith M&M has on the brand value that they believe they may be able to emulate Triumph and Norton (cult, heritage and other similar baloney used by Harley Davidson on the other side of Atlantic).

BTW India still keeping alive a BSA legacy - the Goldstar - or rather the Goldstar silencer on Enfield bikes!

Last edited by alpha1 : 24th October 2016 at 12:12.
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Old 24th October 2016, 12:36   #5
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Re: Mahindra acquires BSA Motorcycles for 28 crores

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Originally Posted by alpha1 View Post
28 crores for a brand that has not earning any revenue (let alone profits) for decades!
I would say not only was it not making any revenue, it might also have a large amount of debt. There might be many who would be willing to pay 28cr for BSA, but not their debts which might be a lot, Mahindra most likely agreed for both.
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Old 24th October 2016, 15:17   #6
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Re: Mahindra acquires BSA Motorcycles for 28 crores

Buy the BSA Brand do what with it? Now they will rebrand the MOJO as BSA MOJO is it?
That will be even more suicidal. Probably they are keen to rake in the money that BSA gets as a part of royalty.
Else they will have to start production all from scratch. Norton would have been a better buy as they have a model in place.
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Old 24th October 2016, 18:37   #7
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Re: Mahindra acquires BSA Motorcycles for 28 crores

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Originally Posted by ku69rd View Post
Buy the BSA Brand do what with it? Now they will rebrand the MOJO as BSA MOJO is it?
That will be even more suicidal. Probably they are keen to rake in the money that BSA gets as a part of royalty.
Else they will have to start production all from scratch. Norton would have been a better buy as they have a model in place.
No, just think about this option, we would finally have a credible alternative to the Royal Enfield, who is having a dream run right now. You will need heritage and brand recall to make a competitor to the Royal Enfield, and now M&M has just that!
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Old 24th October 2016, 18:50   #8
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Re: Mahindra acquires BSA Motorcycles for 28 crores

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Originally Posted by aravind.anand View Post
You will need heritage and brand recall to make a competitor to the Royal Enfield, and now M&M has just that!
Mate,
That ways, even Norton has the same brand recall if not greater or lesser.
At least Norton bikes are still being made and people can experience them. So it has some sort of engineering work already done instead of starting with a greenfield project. So at best I can only speculate as of now.

Anyways am sure M&M will have spent some sort of serious brain drain into this.

http://www.nortonmotorcycles.com/
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Old 24th October 2016, 23:34   #9
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Re: Mahindra acquires BSA Motorcycles for 28 crores

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Originally Posted by aravind.anand View Post
You will need heritage and brand recall to make a competitor to the Royal Enfield
AJS is a similarly historic British marque. They now sell small bikes manufactured in China with some minimal UK assembly. I bet most of you didn't even know you could still buy an AJS?

It's not just a case of buying the brand, they actually have to do something meaningful with it - for the brand to matter the product has to match up.

I hope they make a modernised take on the BSA Lightning - they were cool bikes!
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Old 25th October 2016, 09:09   #10
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Re: Mahindra acquires BSA Motorcycles for 28 crores

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Originally Posted by ku69rd View Post
Mate,
That ways, even Norton has the same brand recall if not greater or lesser.
At least Norton bikes are still being made and people can experience them. So it has some sort of engineering work already done instead of starting with a greenfield project. So at best I can only speculate as of now.

Anyways am sure M&M will have spent some sort of serious brain drain into this.

http://www.nortonmotorcycles.com/
Completely agree, I am not saying BSA is a better buy, Norton would have certainly been better (far more expensive too, if I might add) and, we might have even got the bikes rolling here in 2 years, as Norton is already capable of making nice motorcycles.

I was just saying, M&M has now bought a piece of heritage, and with the right efforts, they can reincarnate a classic brand and make really good use of it.

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Originally Posted by Rob UK View Post
AJS is a similarly historic British marque. They now sell small bikes manufactured in China with some minimal UK assembly. I bet most of you didn't even know you could still buy an AJS?

It's not just a case of buying the brand, they actually have to do something meaningful with it - for the brand to matter the product has to match up.

I hope they make a modernised take on the BSA Lightning - they were cool bikes!
I am sorry, but I don't know the history or heritage associated with AJS.

I am not saying the Mojo with BSA brand would bring in huge volumes, I am saying, M&M can now make a bike like the Bonneville here in India, and sell it as a BSA. That might sell, if priced like the Royal Enfield.

Last edited by aravind.anand : 25th October 2016 at 09:10.
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Old 25th October 2016, 10:45   #11
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Re: Mahindra acquires BSA Motorcycles for 28 crores

To those who say Norton would've been better buy NEED to quantify at what price.

Norton is right now producing and selling stuff. Its valuation would be much much higher.
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Old 25th October 2016, 11:06   #12
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Re: Mahindra acquires BSA Motorcycles for 28 crores

28 crores is peanuts for a brand as well known as BSA. Mahindra sure is on a spending spree and has made a fair share of acquisitions.

The success of Royal Enfield shows that there's a big market for relatively cheap classic-style motorcycles. If executed well, BSA could target some international markets as well as carve out a place for itself in India. Mahindra already has some expertise from acquisitions like Peugeot Motorcycles. And I'm guessing that developing a cheap classic cruiser will be a lot easier than a modern motorcycle. With these products, brand is what counts more than anything and in BSA, it bought just that.
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Old 25th October 2016, 11:19   #13
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With BSA Mahindra has a clean sheet of paper to work with...

..without the baggage of any current products or employees/physical assets. That's an advantage it would not have got with Norton

.. it'll be interesting to note how it decides to handle such a historic brand

Last edited by payeng : 25th October 2016 at 11:21.
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Old 25th October 2016, 12:43   #14
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Re: Mahindra acquires BSA Motorcycles for 28 crores

Mahindra got a sweet deal considering a conglomerate like theirs paid only 28 crores for buying an iconic brand like BSA. What we don't know is if they have also agreed to pay the debts and other such liabilities of BSA. As far as using the brand name goes Mahindra can do so as they are already in the two wheeler business since the past few years. The Chinese have been doing it as rightly mentioned by Rob UK with another such iconic brand named AJS. Apparently the Chinese have also been churning out the legendary WW2 BMW R75 motorcycles named Chang Jiang 750 while Russia has been doing it with their version of IMZ URAL. There are numerous other examples like these in car brands as well. So there is nothing wrong with Mahindra using BSA badge to their benefit as they look at expanding their two wheeler portfolio.

What needs to be seen is how serious Mahindra is with their acquisitions. They acquired Kinetic two wheeler division after which they took over Peugeot Motorcycles. Their current bike Mojo has an eerie resemblance to the Malaguti MR250. Who knows they might have a controlling stake in that company too. There was a news sometime back that Mahindra had sold off its stake in Engines Engineering Italy SpA after acquiring them. From what I know Engines Engineering designs and makes engines for motorcycles, cars, etc. I had heard that maybe the RE UCE engine was designed and developed by Engines Engineering Italy akin to the aluminium 5 speed engine which came on Machismo and Tbird from AVL of Austria.

There are some dots to connect here. IF Mahindra Two Wheelers manages to pull it off with a BSA Retro Classic motorcycle then AJS, Norton, Triumph and RE will have another retro classic partner.

With the way even the Japanese Big 4, Italian Piaggio, and many more have been targeting the Retro Classic market I am sure everyone wants a pie out of nostalgic classic motorcycle market.

Last edited by navin_v8 : 25th October 2016 at 12:49.
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Old 25th October 2016, 14:21   #15
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Re: Mahindra acquires BSA Motorcycles for 28 crores

I am reminded of introducing BSA bikes in India during the 80's.I cannot remember the name of the company which produced these bikes in India.They were manufacturing 50 cc bikes and if my memory serves right the brand name of the bike was BSA GT 50.This company was later acquired by Brooke Bond tea company and the bike was renamed as BSA Bond.Eventually it shut shop and manufacturing of these bikes also came to an end.Initially Bollywood actor Feroz Khan was the brand ambassador.
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