Share Sales And Bank Loan Total Nearly $3 billion
“Mazda’s dating again: anybody wanna snuggle”
Mazda’s financial woes have suddenly made it the centre of takeover talk.
After Mazda announced it would make a net loss of $1.29 billion in the financial year ending March 31, that it planned a $2 billion offering of shares and would borrow $878 million from banks, investors have begun speculating that a merger, takeover or alliance might on the cards.
Ford used to own a about one third of Mazda, but this has sunk down to less than four per cent.
“Mazda’s dating again: anybody wanna snuggle,” said a headline in Automotive News in early February, without offering an answer to its question
Morningstar Equity Research of Chicago reckons that (see above) Peugeot-Citroen would make a great alliance partner for Mazda.
The Financial Times of London’s Lex column said Mazda is a takeover target because of its financial problems and lack of scale, and needs to raise money to refocus production away from Japan.
“Exports account for more than four-fifths of Mazda’s sales compared with one quarter at Toyota so it is more exposed than most to an appreciating yen. All of which makes Mazda a takeover target. Good at small cars, it could appeal to a Chinese buyer. But as a big employer in Japan, a sale would face strong political opposition at home,” Lex said.
Mazda might have been losing money, but it has still been developing its Skyactiv Technologies, which aim to produce more efficient and powerful petrol engines with lighter chassis.
Mazda may go it alone anyway. It did announce that despite the huge loss for the current financial year, it was in the black in the current quarter, and should make some money in the next financial year.
Neil Winton – March 1, 2012
No comments yet.