In a Week or Two, Mahindra will Own Pininfarina

MANILA: The Indian-born automaker Mahindra and Mahindra in a few weeks from now will owe another distressed undervalued company. Yes, you got it right, we are talking about the Italian car designing company Pininfarina. So, now after owning the troubled South Korean company SaangYong Motors and acquiring the majority stake in PSE/Peugeot-Citroen (scooter company), Mahindra is ready to give a fresh start to this car designing company.

The talks initially started in March this year, after a long trail of disappointments for Pininfarina that has been losing money for years now. To be precise, for 10 out of 11 years the company has been running down on losses, as the car companies these days are shifting towards in-house designers despite going for independent designing firms. To get over these glumly days, Pininfarina even tried its hands in building, interior, furniture and electronic designing.

Mahindra is itself an admirer of Pininfarina and has been its customers for years now. And now when its net debt stood at 52.7 million Euro (end of first half), which is equivalent to its market value, Mahindra has decided to rescue it. But things are not as simple as they sound because the creditors and stakeholders initially were not convinced with the deal.

Read More: Mahindra & Mahindra Bids Again to Acquire Pininfarina

But as for today the car designer said., "Negotiations between controlling shareholder Pincar, creditor banks and Mahindra ... over the acquisition of Pininfarina's shares owned by Pincar and debt restructuring never broke off."

So, in near future get ready for a Mahindra tagged designing firm.