Cerberus sizes up Ford's UK luxury duo

Cerberus sizes up Ford's UK luxury duo

By John Reed and Jonathan Guthrie
Friday Jun 15 2007 17:05
Cerberus, the private equity group that has just bought Chrysler, is now voicing interest in a possible bid for one or both of Ford Motor (NYSE:F) 's two UK luxury brands – Land Rover and Jaguar.

According to two people with direct knowledge of the matter, the buy-out group, which secured Chrysler last month for $7.4bn, has voiced preliminary interest in Ford's sale of the two marques, for which other private equity groups and financial investors will also likely compete. "They are definitely one of the players in the game," said one.

Jac Nasser, Ford's former chief executive, is also said to be sizing up Land Rover and Jaguar on behalf of buy-out firm One Equity Partners.