Tag

CROSS Industries

Browsing

News out of Austria says that KTM is gearing up to pull its shares off the public stock market. The move comes from a request by Cross Industries, which is run by Stefan Pierer and is the largest shareholder of KTM’s stock, with 51.4% of the shares.

With Indian motorcycle manufacturer Bajaj owning another 48%, this means the announcement only affects roughly 0.6% of KTM’s overall stock, which is floating around on the Third Market (Dritter Markt) of the Vienna Stock Exchange.

According to KTM’s press release on the issue, Cross will offer €122.50 per share for the outstanding stock, which will then make KTM officially a privately held company.

The Brits over at MCN broke the news last night that Husqvarna was about to be acquired by KTM. Since M&A’s are a rarity in this industry, the news was certainly interesting, but given that the beleaguered Husqvarna brand has been such a pox on BMW Motorrad with its dwindling dirt bike sales, and that the German company has been embroiled in trying to transition the Italian-based Swedish brand into the on-road segment, now seems a peculiar time for the BMW Group to unload Husqvarna…or that anyone would even be interested in purchasing the company.

Bajaj Auto has an insatiable appetite for KTM, and the Indian company has slowly been gobbling up KTM stock, and now is just under a 40% shareholder in the Austrian motorcycle company. With Cross Industries AG holding 51% of the company in its control, the Austrians have made it clear that they will not give up majority control of KTM, especially to the Indian automotive company. However, analysts are predicting Bajaj could take its partnership with KTM to its limit, purchasing up to 49% of the company’s stock.

As we reported last week, there were rumors circulating that Bajaj was poised to take a controlling interest in KTM, which could see the Indian manufacturer owning up to 90% of the Austrian company. After the circulation of these rumors KTM released a statement (posted after the jump) that touched on some of the issues brought about by the weekend’s news coverage, namely the future ownership structure of the company.

Some publications have taken this release as a denial of the acquisition rumors (which the release at no point actually says), but like many press releases what is said is often less important that what isn’t said. Sensational headlines aside, KTM’s response only suggests that CROSS Industries AG will remain the majority shareholder in KTM, and in no way denied rumors that Bajaj would be increasing its stake in the Austrian company. While CROSS and KTM’s current leadership seem set to remain intact at KTM (what was actually stated in the release), our sources continue to point to Bajaj increasing its stake in KTM, while the company’s glaring omission to address that part of the industry rumors seems to confirm that initial suspicion.

With KTM’s shareholder general assembly only two weeks away, we won’t have long to wait to see how the over $40 million of additional stock gets spread out over current and potential investors. Press release after the jump, for you to make the call yourselves on what was said.