Rumors that Jaguar and Land Rover owner, Tata Motors in India is prepping to raise funds to pay for new products, according to a report in Motor Trend magazine.? One scenario has them spinning off the Jaguar/Land Rover brands into a separate company and taking them public with an IPO.? Tata bought the two for $2.5 billion in 2008, getting a great deal from Ford, who paid $5.3 billion for the pair.? Tata?s deal even looks better because experts put the current value at $14 billion. ?
The second scenario, according to the magazine, is for Tata to issue bonds to raise money.? This would allow Tata to maintain control and ownership, which is important because the Jaguar/Land Rover division has been Tata?s most profitable division during the previous year.
New products in the Jaguar/Land Rover pipeline include the Jaguar F-Type sports coupe and a new small sedan to compete in the same class at the Mercedes-Benz C-Class and BMW 3 Series. Land Rover is working on a Discovery replacement for 2015.? It?s estimated that new products and updates to current products will cost about $12 billion over the next five years. ?The most recent new product, the Range Rover Evoque is already responsible for 30 percent of the company?s worldwide sales.?