Tata Motors acquire Ford Motor's premium British brands Jaguar and Land Rover

Tata Motors acquire Ford Motor's premium British brands Jaguar and Land Rover for around $2.5 billion.

The stock hit a high of Rs 690 and a low of Rs 657 so far during the day. The stock had a 52-week high of Rs 840 on 12 October 2007 and a 52-week low of Rs 535 on 22 January 2008.

The company’s current equity is Rs 385.55 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10. Promoters hold 33.42% stake in the company (as at end December 2007).

The current price of Rs 658 discounts its Q3 December 2007 annualized EPS of Rs 51.78, by a PE multiple of 12.70.

Tata Motors’ net profit declined 2.8% to Rs 499.05 crore on 5.2% growth in net sales to Rs 7251.83 crore in Q3 December 2007 over Q3 December 2006.

As per reports, the deal which took almost nine months to be finalised was signed in evening yesterday, 25 March 2008. With this deal, Tata Motors will get access to three manufacturing facilities at Solihull, Castle Bromwich and Halewood. The Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) acquisition would be the biggest made by Tata Motors. In 2004, the company acquired Daewoo Commercial Vehicles for Rs 465 crore and Hispano Carocera, a Spanish bus body building firm for Rs 70 crore.

The Jaguar and Land Rover are luxury brands belonging to Ford, the world's third-largest automaker. Ford had announced it was selling Jaguar and Land Rover late last year as part of a restructuring after posting a record $12.6 billion loss. Demand for the luxury vehicles had fallen at the fastest pace in at least three years. Jaguar sales dropped 33% in the US and Europe in the first two months of 2008 while Land Rover sales fell 13% in the U.S. and 7.7% in Europe in this period.

Tata Motors is engaged in manufacturing and marketing heavy, medium and light commercial vehicles, utility vehicles and passenger cars.