Indian automaker bids for Jaguar, Land Rover

Ford lost $12.6 billion last year and is looking to sell the two units.

DETROIT (AP) — Indian automaker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. is among the three final bidders for Ford Motor Co.’s Jaguar and Land Rover units, a person who has been briefed on the negotiations said Tuesday.

Mahindra, which has joined private equity firm Apollo Management LP to bid for the British automakers, is competing against another Indian automaker, Tata Motors Ltd., and U.S. private equity firm One Equity Partners LLC, said the person, who requested not to be named because the talks are private.

Tata and the private equity firm have been previously identified as possible bidders for the luxury car operations.

All three bidders were meeting Tuesday with the British government, labor unions and Ford about the sale, the person said.

Labor unions in the United Kingdom are seeking assurances that the sale would not affect employment levels. Combined, Jaguar and Land Rover employ about 15,300 in the U.K.

Cash-hungry Ford, which lost $12.6 billion last year but earned $88 million in the first nine months of 2007, has been looking to sell Jaguar and Land Rover.

It has mortgaged its assets to borrow money to stay operating and expects to burn up $12 billion to $14 billion per year until 2009, when it plans to return to sustained profitability.

Jaguar and Land Rover have been hit by unfavorable exchange rates and high production costs in Britain. Ford doesn’t break out earnings for these units.

Jacques Nasser, Ford’s chief executive from 1999 to 2001, is involved with the bid from One Equity Partners, an affiliate of JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Former Ford President Nick Scheele joined with New York-based Ripplewood Holdings LLC in its bid for Jaguar and Land Rover, but Ripplewood is out of the running, said the person briefed on the talks.

Ford spokesman Tom Hoyt would not comment on the bidding, but said the company still is on target to complete the sale by the end of this year or early next year.

Mahindra is one of the top 10 industrial operations in India, making trucks, sport-utility vehicles, cars and tractors. In April, the company unveiled a line of sport-utility vehicles and trucks that it plans to start selling in the United States in 2009. Mahindra also has financial services, trade and logistics, steel and information technology components.