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Harley-Davidson Among Bidders To Buy Italian Ducati
Published by Cyril Huze June 21st, 2017 in Builders, Editorial and Events.

Numerous sources state that Harley-Davidson is lining up a takeover bid for Italian Ducati put up for sale by German carmaker Volkswagen, potentially bringing together two of the most famous names in motorcycling in a deal that could be worth up to 1.5 billion euros ($1.67 billion) Others are also preparing to bid: Bajaj Auto (BAJA.NS) and several buyout funds. Tentative bids are expected in July. VW hopes to raise between 1.4 and 1.5 billion euros from the sale of Ducati, valuing it at 14-15 times its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of about 100 million euros. A source close to VW said the sale of Ducati may not be finalized before the annual EICMA motorcycle show in Milan in mid-November as VW wants to find the right buyer and the sales process may take time.

Didn't read the article yet but I wonder if this is the result of the gargantuan hicky VW took recently.

This feels like a poor fit for HD to me.

Two TOTALLY different ideas on bikes.

I agree with the poster above me.... bigdeal....Not a good fit.

As long as they don't step on the duck, it will pass the sniff test.

Bad idea. I hope it doesn't happen.

I would like to see
An American made sport bike. I don't think is how to get it done.

No way the Italians will go for it.
Won't happen.

Harley already fucked up one sport bike company with Buell, they might as well double down and go for the 2fer. Better market penetration by buying and screwing up all the competition.

quote:

Originally posted by rainman64:
No way the Italians will go for it.
Won't happen.

It's owned by VW, other than the name the Italians have nothing to do with ownership...

HD bought MV Augoosta a while back, didn't
pan out, but that's a very small market, HD needs a sporty image partner, and buyers for HD are a bit more financially able to buy expensive bikes, Ducks are not inexpensive, might fit, who knows.

HD's track record with Buell and MV Agusta is one reason I am anything but thrilled with this recent news. I'd rather see a manufacturer like Polaris acquire Ducati. HD doesn't know what it's doing when it comes to sport bikes.

So VW was a better fit?

H-D bought MV Agusta several years ago for about $70 million including assumption of debt. Then they turned around and sold it back a couple of years later to the former MV Agusta CEO for $1 (One Dollar), debt free.

Chief among the issues with the MV Agusta ownership were the differences in management philosophy between Milwaukee and Italians.

Either H-D is under different management now, or they don't learn from their experiences.

quote:

Originally posted by rainman64:
No way the Italians will go for it.
Won't happen.

I dunno, look what happened with Fiat/Chrysler and Ferrari.

VW was actually a good thing for Ducati. Reliability and service intervals improved.

quote:

Originally posted by stickman428:
Bad idea. I hope it doesn't happen.

Agree. Don't ruin Ducati please.

Oh dear.... NOooooooo!!!!!!

B'heh. Heh, heh, heh. Heh, heh, HAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

I don't know what's going to happen (AMF, anyone?), but it's either going to be brilliant or some of the sickest sick humor to ever come down the pike.

I think it's a smart business move, puts them in the hi performance sport bike business (Something Buell never did for them. The only thing that came out of Buell deal was the V-Rod. Stock is down from a year ago...Buy

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:
This feels like a poor fit for HD to me.

I don't know the motorcycle industry but how is this any different than say Honda making regular cars and also high end Acuras?