VW Group halts Ducati sale

The Volkswagen Group has decided to halt the sale of its superbike brand - Ducati amidst rising opposition from its labour unions. According to a media report, Ducati CEO Claudio Domenicali told workers that the VW supervisory board had decided to halt the sale.

In August 2017, a 20-member supervisory board had overruled the management board's decision to sell Ducati. Various internal labour groups had also voiced their opposition to the management's decision including some influential shareholders like the Porsche and Piech families that control 52% of voting shares in the VW Group.

Following the infamous Dieselgate scandal, Audi, which owns Ducati had appointed Evercore Partners as advisors after the VW Group was considering selling the superbike brand as part of an asset review. The conglomerate was hoping to raise around 1.5 billion euros from the sale as it grappled with financial damages to the tune of 25 billion euros.

In July 2017, five bidders had been finalized and there had also been reports of India's Bajaj Auto Ltd. and Eicher Motors to be in the race to buy Ducati. However, they didn't make it to the final shortlist.

Source: Autonews