Mahindra denies bidding for Volvo

11 December 2008

The $6.7-billion Mahindra Group has denied media reports that it is planning to bid jointly with private investment companies, Cerberus Capital, the 79.8-per cent owner of Chrysler and Texas Pacific Group for Swedish car brand Volvo owned by Ford Motor's Premier Automotive Group that had previously owned Aston Martin, Jaguar and Land Rover.

Yestarday, Hindustan Times reported that the company was in discussions with private-equity players including Cerberus Capital and Texas Pacific Group to place a joint bid.
The Mumbai-based automaker said in a statement that, "We would like to categorically state that we are not bidding for Volvo and that these reports are purely speculative in nature."

The media had reported earlier citing investment banking sources that Mahindra was on the lookout for an advisor and was holding talks with Standard Chartered and Morgan Stanley to bid for Volvo jointly with Cerberus Capital and Texas Pacific Group.

It also said that JP Morgan, the advisors for Ford, had approached M&M as part of its Asian search along with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation and South Korea's Hyundai to explore their interst in acquiring Volvo.

M&M had said earlier that it was "always looking for acquisitions" but with the decline in sales in the domestic market due to the global economic slowdown "had to assess how to finance our mergers and acquisitions in times like these."

According to media reports Ford, which had acquired Sweden's ailing Volvo Car Corp in 1999 for $6.4 billion, has put a $6-billion sales tag for Volvo.