Reports out of Italy are confirming the news that Ducati will remain as a part of the Volkswagen Group, with the German company ceasing its pursuits of divesting the Italian motorcycle company from its ranks.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone following Ducati’s business situation, as reports of the divestiture stalling out were circulating this time last month.
The news seems to come with a bonus, with Ducati CEO Claudio Domenicali reportedly confirming the news internally (other reports quote Audi CEO Rupert Stadler doing the same as well).
With that, Evercore Partners – the investment bank that was hired to solicit bids on Ducati Motor Holding – will stop pursuing brands that may want to see Ducati within their corporate holdings.
This also means that Ducati can continue moving forward without the specter of new ownership overshadowing new business deals and future model rollouts.
Looking to get roughly €1.5 billion for the Italian company, the deal’s fatal blow was the German labor unions, who account for half of the seats on Volkswagen’s advisory board.
With the unions showing a formidable “no” vote, and the other half of the seats divided on the issue, the sale of Ducati had no chance of moving forward, thus concluding the internal struggle to force a sale of the Italian motorcycle company.
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