According to foreign media reports, Volkswagen Group is holding preliminary negotiations with potential buyers on the sale of motorcycle brand Ducati, so as to evaluate the bidders' interest in Ducati.
However, whether Volkswagen agrees to officially start the sale process is still unknown. Prior to this, investors and banks are weighing price expectations and potential strategic matching. Commenting on the possible auction in Ducati, a source said: "There are some trends here, but no decision has been made."
According to two other people familiar with the matter, Volkswagen is expected to launch the program in early 20021and may appoint a sales consultant before Christmas. In this regard, Volkswagen declined to comment.
The above-mentioned sources also revealed that in the five-year planning round, Volkswagen will re-examine the future of high-performance sports cars such as Lamborghini and Bugatti to expand economies of scale and achieve the goal of doubling the market value to 200 billion euros during electrification transformation. The measures that Volkswagen may implement include: technical cooperation with other companies, or reorganization, independent listing or even sale.
In fact, the news that Volkswagen wants to sell its non-core assets such as Ducati has been circulated many times. Earlier, a number of foreign media reported that Volkswagen had entrusted the investment bank Evercore to evaluate Ducati and other businesses, and even started to contact potential buyers.
At first, perhaps considering the $25 billion damages and fines brought by the "emission gate", analysts and bankers predicted that Europe's largest automobile manufacturer might sell its assets to raise funds to repay its debts, and at the same time streamline its business and carry out strategic restructuring.
In addition, there is speculation that although Ducati is owned by Audi, it can not bring economic benefits to Audi, which has also become the reason why Volkswagen wants to sell Ducati. As early as 20 12, Audi bought Ducati for 860 million euros. Analysts questioned this, saying that the move was just ferdinand piech, the former chairman of Volkswagen. Piech) is interested in Ducati design and small engines.
At that time, the transaction did not succeed. It is said that there are two main reasons. On the one hand, in the board of supervisors that has the right to carry out this matter, the leaders of the Volkswagen Factory Council account for half of the 20 seats, and think that Volkswagen's financial situation is not tight and there is no need to sell assets. On the other hand, the controlling shareholders Porsche and Piech family opposed the transaction on September 65438, 2002.
Some time ago, the battle for the giant heritage was staged again, and the story revolved around Piech, the godfather of the public. You know, the title of the "godfather" of the public is not a hollow name. From 1993 to 20 15, under the leadership of Piech, the then head of Volkswagen, Volkswagen launched a large-scale market expansion strategy, and acquired heavy brands such as Bentley, Bugatti and Lamborghini in just one year.
It is reported that as part of the next phase of strategic evaluation, Volkswagen is making a listing plan for Lamborghini, and has solicited the opinions of bankers and potential investors on the listing of the brand. 101On October 20th, sources revealed that Lamborghini is expected to go public on 202 1.
Bloomberg analysts have predicted that Lamborghini's expansion of its product line from super sports car to SUV may help its valuation rise to about110 billion US dollars, thus making Lamborghini an implementable IPO candidate.
But in fact, it is also full of uncertainty whether the spin-off and reorganization will help to realize the market value multiplication plan. A positive example is that since Ferrari was split from FCA in 20 16, its market value has more than tripled. But its rival Aston Martin is just a counterexample. Since 2065 438+08 IPO, the stock price has plummeted all the way.
As for Bugatti, it was reported last month that Volkswagen Group was discussing selling Bugatti to a high-performance electric vehicle manufacturer in Croatia? Rimac. At that time, even German media quoted sources as saying that Volkswagen planned to complete the transaction this year. However, like this reaction, the public naturally does not comment.
In fact, since the "emission gate" incident, there have been rumors that Volkswagen Group will give up some minority brands. Accurately speaking, not only the public, but the whole industry has begun to "do subtraction". Although the sales of minority brands, including Lamborghini and Ducati, are good, their R&D and production coordination with the group's mainstream brands are not strong, and it is difficult to share the huge costs faced by industry transformation.
At the Frankfurt Motor Show last year, Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diss (Herbert? Diess) admitted in an interview with European media that the public no longer needs so many bulky brands, and said that "it would be a dangerous strategy to create products at no cost."
Volkswagen Chief Financial Officer Frank Witter (Frank? Witter) has also said that considering the latest emission reduction task of the EU, it hopes to improve the profitability of the Group through "slimming". "From the overall structure of the group, it is valuable to reduce the complexity."
Therefore, whether Bugatti or Ducati is sold or Lamborghini is listed independently, we don't seem to be surprised. On the one hand, the spin-off sale will help to improve the overall capital and market value of Volkswagen Group; On the other hand, Volkswagen is looking for other ways to divert funds to realize electrification. While spending a lot of money to promote the electrification of mainstream brands, we are also considering whether it is worthwhile to develop electrification platforms for these minority brands. In addition, the COVID-19 epidemic has pressed the acceleration button for the group's decision-making, so it is understandable that the public may make a series of choices.
Admittedly, it can be seen that the situation facing Volkswagen Group is becoming more and more challenging. It needs capital to complete the transformation, and it also needs to optimize the structure to make the enterprise more competitive. This also makes more car companies wary. Although it is difficult to break up, it is the only way for an elephant to turn around.
Text/Sun Lili
-
Wechat searches for "Car Commune" and "One-sentence Comment" to follow the official account of WeChat, or visit the Daily Auto News Network for more industry information.
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.