Final sale of Jaguar, Land Rover expected on Monday

UPDATE This rumor is upgraded to 'fact' today. Ford Motor Co. today said it had completed the sale of its Jaguar and Land Rover operations to Tata Motors, as it previously said it would. The Dearborn-based automaker sold the two luxury brands in an effort to raise cash as it heads through a difficult period. During the last two years, Ford has lost $15.3 billion and the automaker doesn’t expect to break even until 2009 or beyond. Ford said in March that it intended to sell Jaguar and Land Rover to Tata for $2.3 billion.

That's far less than what Ford paid for the brands. Ford bought Jaguar for $2.5 billion in 1989 and Land Rover for $2.75 billion in 2000. As part of the overall sale agreement between Ford and Tata, Ford will continue to supply Jaguar Land Rover with engines, stampings and technology, including a range of environmental technologies. Detroit Free Press

05/31/08 Ford Motor Co. is expected to close the sale of its Jaguar and Land Rover luxury brands to India's Tata Motors Monday, sources familiar with the situation said on Friday.

Terms remain largely unchanged from those in the preliminary agreement that Ford and Tata announced in March, they said.

Tata will pay Ford about $2.3 billion for the British carmakers, but Ford will contribute about $600 million of that to the Jaguar and Land Rover pension funds.

That means Ford will net about $1.7 billion from the deal, which concludes the Dearborn automaker's long involvement with British luxury brands. Last year, Ford sold the Aston Martin carmaker to a group of investors for $925 million.

Ford declined to confirm. "As we have said, we expect to close in the second quarter," said Ford spokesman John Gardiner.