Ratan Tata is finally in the driver’s seat of fabled British marquees Jaguar and Land Rover. After months of tortuous negotiations, Tata Motors today entered into a definitive agreement with The Ford Motor Company to buy Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). After settlement of the deal Tata Motors will own the Jaguar brands, plants and intellectual property rights (IPRs). The JLR deal comes a year after group company Tata Steel acquired British steel company Corus for $12 billion.

Tata Motors will pay Ford approximately $2.3 billion to settle the deal, of which $600 million will be towards contribution to the JLR pension plans. The transfer of ownership is expected to close by the end of the next quarter, subject to applicable regulatory approvals. “There is a lot of enthusiasm about the agreement and over a period of time we will gain substantial value from the deal,” said Tata Motors managing director Ravi Kant.

“We are very pleased at the prospect of Jaguar and Land Rover being a significant part of our automotive business. We have enormous respect for the two brands and will endeavour to preserve and build on their heritage and competitiveness, keeping their identities intact. We aim to support their growth, while holding true to our principles of allowing the management and employees to bring their experience and expertise to bear on the growth of the business,” said Tata Motors chairman Ratan Tata.

However, the deal will not affect the functioning of the company as the management has amicably decided to retain the top employees of Jaguar. “The assets of Jaguar Land rover will not be reflected in the Tata Motors balance sheet and they will function as subsidiary companies. The Jaguar Land Rover CEO has also agreed to stay back,” said Tata Motors chief financial officer C Ramakrishnan.

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