Arab funds out of the running for Jaguar

Jul 3 2007

TWO Arab investment funds have ruled themselves out of the bidding for Jaguar and Land Rover.

The government-backed funds in the United Arab Emirates were responding to a report at the weekend that they were looking to buy the Ford-owned, West Midlands-based, luxury car makers.

It was claimed that the Mubadala Development Co, owned by the government of Abu Dhabi, and Dubai International Capital had brief advisers to prepare bids.

Spokesmen for both group today denied that they were considering bids.

Further speculation yesterday centred on private equity firms Cerberus Capital Management, Ripplewood Holdings and One Equity Partners, all of whom were interested in buying the two Ford Premier Automotive Group units, according to German newspaper reports.

Sources in the UK said last week that Chinese car maker Shanghai Automotive (SAIC) was among those interested in bidding for Land Rover and Jaguar.

Ford has refused to say whether or not it has had expressions of interest for the two companies.

Meanwhile yesterday, Land Rover suffered a blow when its Discovery 3 model was named the least satisfactory new vehicle in a survey of nearly 100,000 cars conducted by the magazine Which? Car.

It scored only 79 per cent compared with the top scoring Honda Jazz with 96 per cent.