Hero Motocorp showing interest in Ducati

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There was a buzz recently that Investindustrial, a private-equity group backed by the Bonomi family, was looking forward to sell their complete stakes in the Italian motorcycle manufacturer, Ducati, for 1 billion Euro ($1.32 billion US).  Andrea Bonomi, Investindustrial’s chairman, believes that they need a world class industrial partner for the growing company. There were several entities who had expressed interest, one among them was an Indian motorcycle group Mahindra. Mahindra and German auto manufacturer, Volkswagen, were at the top of the prospective buyers list.

Now, one more Indian motorcycle manufacturer, Hero Motocorp, is showing keen interest in buying the stakes. The company might not buy the entire stake, though they have planned to buy majority of the stake. Hero Motocorp, after split up with the Japanese auto major, Honda, had tied-up with Eric Buell Racing as their technology partner. The firm’s ambition to turn into one of the biggest global players in the motorcycle segment seems to be taking shape slowly.

Pawan Kant Munjal, the managing director of Hero MotoCorp, said “Lots of people have been coming to us with Ducati: Not one banker but many bankers. We’re talking to a lot of people. Not just Ducati, whoever comes to us, we talk to them. We’ve been seen as a utility-bike maker, fuel-efficient bikes, and somebody who’s at the lower level of the market, who’s more small-town and rural-market focused. So our ambition is to become one of the biggest global two- wheeler players and to do that, you cannot only be in one small segment.”

It is good to see Indian manufacturers showing keen interest in going global.

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