MV Agusta: Potential Company Buyers

MV Agusta For Sale

MV Agusta may have a buyer, as many overseas websites are reporting the company’s Chairman Claudio Castiglioni and former Ducati CEO Federico Minoli are two potential men expressing interest in purchasing the exotic brand from Harley-Davidson. MV Agusta is reportedly on sale for $43 million, less than half of what Harley paid.

The Motor Company bought MV Agusta in 2008 for $109 million, but $70 million of that was to erase MV’s debt. But a year later, the iconic American manufacturer reported in October 2009 that it would divest interests in the brand; this news also came with H-D’s announcement that its subsidiary Buell closed.

Harley has not released any information about the sale, but has only said the "company is in discussions with potential buyers" – reportedly five all together, Castiglioni, Minoli, and three unidentified private equity firms.

Castiglioni owns the Italian motorcycle brand Cagiva with his brother Gianfranco (Ca-Castiglioni, Gi-Giovanni, Va-Varese), which bought MV in 1991. But due to the success of newly acquired brand, Cagiva became a subsidiary of MV in 1999, like Buell once was to Harley.

In 2004, the Malaysian car manufacturer Proton bought MV, then it was brought back to Italy in 2005 when the Genoa-based finance company Givi SpA bought it. Then in 2008, Harley purchased the company.

If these rumors are true about the two named potential buyers, MV Agusta will be back in its birthplace of Italy.

Castiglioni reportedly has backing from the major Italian banking group Intessa Sanpaolo. After bringing a few companies under the Cagiva name, the man is credited with resurrecting Ducati in 1985, Husgvarna in 1987, and MV Agusta in 1991.

With the Italian artist Massimo Tamburini, Castiglioni has developed two of the world’s most appealing cycles, the MV Agusta F4 and the Ducati 916.

Minoli is reportedly backed by an unnamed private equity firm. He was Ducati’s former CEO and then president until resigning in 2007.

Cagiva owned Ducati from 1985 to 1996, selling it to the U.S. based Texas-Pacific Group, which was then headed by Minoli. He would be credited with the Ducati’s popularity.

Stay tuned for more…

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