Mahindra hopes for quick Aston Martin deal
interest among major car makers, such as BMW, Daimler or Toyota, may have left the way open for the likes of InvestIndustrial, which bought and sold Italy's Ducati high-end motorcycle brand in recent years, and Mahindra, the world's biggest tractor maker, which has seen compatriots at Tata Motor do well in buying Jaguar Land Rover four years ago.
Tractors and James Bond
Nonetheless, some analysts questioned the logic of linking the Mahindra family to Aston Martin - though the 99-year-old British firm had its heyday in the 1950s and 60s when owned by another tractor man, Yorkshire magnate David Brown, founder of the classic DB model line beloved of Agent 007.
It's difficult to visualise a tractor and an Aston Martin in the same garage, said Mads Kaiser, a Silkeborg, Denmark-based fund manager with JI India Equity Fund, which owns Mahindra shares in its $200-million Indian equities portfolio.
The acquisition will broaden their portfolio but doesn't add anything to their tractor or India portfolio.
Shares in Mahindra fell more than 3 percent on Monday.
Investors will be wary of the risk of trophy acquisitions that a tempting, vanity brand like Aston Martin might pose. Its machines have most lately been on display in the new James Bond blockbuster Skyfall, being promoted globally in recent weeks.
Movie fan Anand Mahindra, whose family company is one of India's biggest businesses, studied film before going on to take his MBA at Harvard and has plenty of cash at his disposal with a corporate debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29 at the end
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