Tata Motors Denies Report Claiming It Could Sell Jaguar And Land Rover

Tata Motors has denied a recent report saying one of the options considered for for the ailing Jaguar and Land Rover brands was selling them to someone else.

The original report from Bloomberg said that the Indian company was pondering whether to offload the two British automakers altogether, sell a minority stake or find a venture partner for JLR in order to lower costs.

A Tata Motors spokesperson however told Reuters that “there is no truth to the rumors that Tata Motors is looking to divest its stake in JLR”.

According to the original report, Tata Motors is holding early-stage private talks with advisers which could very well lead to nowhere, citing inside sources. It’s believed that the Indian company is reluctant to give up control of JLR and may seek something like a strategic partner or a sovereign wealth fund instead.

Tata Motors currently owns 100 percent of Jaguar Land Rover, which had to write off $4.1 billion in the last quarter of 2018. Jaguar has been dealing with decreased sales in China and a big drop in demand for diesel models in Europe. Moreover, JLR has announced a 10 percent cut of its workforce amid uncertainty over Brexit.

Last month Jaguar Land Rover said that it was seeking alternative funding sources as the conditions weren’t right for them to borrow from the bond market. The British company, which is currently spending a lot of cash towards the development of electric vehicles, needs to raise $1 billion in 14 months in order to replace maturing bonds.