After months of negotiations with Ford Motor Company (FMC), India's largest auto maker Tata Motors has signed the agreement to buy out luxury marquees Jaguar and Land Rover. An announcement to this effect is expected by the evening.Although an official confirmation on the deal size is yet to be out from Bombay House, the headquarters of Tata Group, reports suggest that it could be in the range of $2-2.5 billion. A formal announcement will be out by 1730 hrs (IST).According to sources in the know, the deal was signed last night in London, which is also the head quarters of the Premier Automotive Group (PAG). Jaguar and Land Rover apart from Volvo Cars comprise the PAG.Ford, however has said that it will make an announcement only after it intimates its employees about the deal.The deal has taken almost 9 months to fructify as both the involved parties were engaged in advanced talks pertaining to engines and parts supply from Ford, pension liability of Unite workers, retrenchment among other issues. Ford supplies about 90% components to Jaguar and Land Rover.Tata Motors got into a more detailed discussion with Ford Motor Company (FMC) after the US-based auto giant declared Tata Motors as the preffered bidder on January 3 among a couple of other interested parties including Mahindra and Mahindra and One Equity Alliance.The talks were held between the two parties amid concerns expressed by Jaguar dealers in the US, which is also the luxury marquees' largest market, which noted that an Indian buyer will adversely impact the value of the brand as the world's cheapest car, Nano, made by Tata Motors came at one-twentieth of the cost for the least expensive Jaguar model.Ford is selling both the brands at less than half its purchase cost, which was $5.2 billion. The company had bought Jaguar in 1989 for $2.5 billion while Land Rover was bought from BMW for $2.5 billion in 2000.A positive news for the Tata group is that the PAG, managed to post a profit of $504 million for the last financial year despite a loss of $344 million posted in 2006.Ford does not share details of individual brands but sales from the Land Rover brand is believed to have pushed the groups' revenue substantially as it rose by 18% for the company even as Jaguar posted a drop of 19% in 2007. Land Rover's annual sales crossed 2 lakh units for the first time ever as markets like Russia, Spain, China and France recorded best sales.
