A rumor has been making the rounds on the Internet over the last few days, and it's been popping up fairly frequently on an MV Agusta fan forum. What's the word? Apparently, Harley-Davidson may have found a buyer for its MV Agusta brand...an Italian, no less!
The reports say that the buyers are probably Claudio Castiglioni and Federico Minoli. This is interesting, because Castiglioni is credited with turning around Ducati, Husqvarna and Cagvia in the late 80s and early 90s. He was also behind two of the world's most iconic motorcycles, the Ducati 916 and the MV Agusta F4. Minoli, on the other hand, was the head of Ducati from 1996 to 2007, when he resigned. Seems like these two would definitely know what they're doing!
Harley is keeping mum on the details of the sale, though. All that Harley's spokesman had to say was, “the company is in discussions with potential buyers regarding its previously announced intention to sell MV Agusta.” Since they're not giving up any details, it's fair game to speculate, right?
So, let's speculate some more. Back in 2008, Harley bought MV Agusta for $109 million. Word on the street is that Castiglioni has backing from Intesa San Paolo, an Italian bank. Minoli, however, is backed by a private equity firm. It's been reported that between the two of them, they need to raise $43 million for the bid to be successful. Do some quick math, and that adds up to a $66 million loss for Harley.
