TATA MOTORS HEADING TOWARDS 1200 IN SHORT TERM

TATA MOTORS HEADING TOWARDS 1200 IN SHORT TERM :-
Ford to focus on detailed talks with Tata Motors
2008-01-03 15:28:50 Source : CNBC-TV18
Ford has announced that they will focus on detailed talks with Tata Motors. They added that a considerable amount of work is left and there is no final decision yet. The company will hold substantive discussions with Tata Motors in the coming weeks, reports CNBC-TV18.
Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Roger Maddison, National Secretary of Unite, Jaguar Land Rover Trade Union, said the preferred bidder could be Tata Motors. He added that One Equity and M&M are still in the race for JLR.
Union is putting pressure on the management to back Tata Motors, he stated. The Tatas do not foresee any problem with regards to pension, commented Maddison.
CNBC-TV18 has learnt from sources that the Tatas will get full access to JLR financials.
Tata Motors said that they had positive discussions with Ford so far and are entering more detailed and focused discussions with the company. They added that these are complex discussions and there is still work to be done. Tata Motors is pleased by the progress of talks until now and are very positive on the prospects of business, going forward. They hope both parties can reach an agreement in the coming weeks.
The JLR union has said that they want plant and job security to be the main criteria for discussions and the discussions must include wages, pensions, terms and conditions.
According to CNBC-TV18’s Sumantra Barooah, Ford deal is going to be quite a complex deal. And the final announcement of the deal being signed, can take anywhere between a couple of weeks or perhaps over a month. According to sources, as many as 40-50 different agreements, which will address issues like power train supply by Ford and also short-term servicing and IPR related issues, he says.
Swati Khandelwal of CNBC-TV18 says that the Union has been backing Tata Motors ever since they made presentations on November 20, when they met. So, Tata Motors have been in the race. But now that the tables have turned to Tata Motors, sources say that they will access to the accounts of both Land Rover-Jaguar, full financial details of both these brands. She elaborates that there will get into intense discussions even on the bid price also.
Excerpts from CNBC-TV18’s exclusive interview with Roger Maddison:
Q: What have you been told by the Ford management?

A: Early this morning, Ford’s management said they expect an announcement within the next hour. So, by 11 am hopefully they will be announcing to the workforce whom Ford have chosen as the preferred bidder. The UK trade unions are very hopeful that that preferred bidder would be Tata.

Q: Any conformation then on whether or not it is indeed Tata Motors and is there any other names that are still in the fray?

A: As far as we know, there is One Equity led by Jacques Nasser and the M&M Group. As we said before Christmas, all our pressure was being put on the company to support the Tata bid. We do believe that it is the best bid to secure a long-term future for the people that we represent in UK and a long-term future for Jaguar-Land Rover. They were very impressive people when they made their presentation to us. We are very hopeful that Tata is the preferred bidder but there is no conformation on that yet. Hopefully, that should be within the next hour.

Q: Who will be giving the final confirmation to the Union as well? Do you have any idea what this deal has been valued at?

A: No, we have got no idea of the value. We have never been preview to that information from the start. We are just waiting now. It would be somebody from the HR team who would give confirmation. But, hopefully, the word would go out to the shop floor from the managers of different plants.

Q: Have you got any undertaking from the Tata Group about the maintenance of pensions, jobs or any commitments at all?

A: Not very much. We did have some when we spoke very briefly when we met in November with the three potential buyers. At that time, Tata said that they did not foresee any problems with pensions or anything like that.
But they have got to go through the books and look at it, do all their duties to make sure that they still want the company, even after they do all that. I am pretty sure that they do.

They seem a very well organised company and have not gone this far to fall out. But we have obviously said to all the three bidders that we would want more detailed discussions, with regards to terms and conditions- pensions, job security, source and agreement, things like that. Whoever the preferred bidder is, we would want to meet with them soon and discuss those things in more detail.