Tata Motors stake in Iveco hits 96.29%, moving toward full control

On November 13, Tata Motors paid out the last Iveco Group shareholders willing to sell, pushing its stake in the Italian truck and bus maker to 96.29% and clearing the way to squeeze out everyone who held on. For the first time, an Indian company is about to own, outright, one of Europe's biggest commercial vehicle makers.

The number did not move overnight. Tata's subsidiary TML CV Holdings BV first settled its tender offer on October 30 at 89.42% of Iveco's share capital, at €14.40 a share, a price it had raised by €0.30 in October to pull in holdouts. A reopened window from November 2 to 9 brought in another 18.31 million shares, worth about 6.75% of the company, taking the stake past the 95% mark that lets a bidder force out the rest under Dutch law. TML CV Holdings has said in its filing that it does not intend to restore a public float, so Borsa Italiana is expected to suspend or delist Iveco's shares once the squeeze out closes, according to Autocar Professional's report on the stake increase.

What an Indian buyer gets out of this is not a badge on a truck, it is an engine. Iveco's powertrain arm, FPT Industrial, is the part of the deal Tata Motors talks about most. "We truly believe that FPT is a jewel in the entire Iveco group," Girish Wagh, managing director and CEO of Tata Motors, said in comments carried by Autocar Professional. He said FPT's capabilities "can be scaled up in terms of getting into more industrial applications" and that Tata sees "a lot of industrial applications for FPT engines, not just in India, but many other markets in Africa, ASEAN." The plan is to fit FPT powertrains across Tata's non heavy commercial vehicle range in India, a segment the company says is three times bigger by volume than its heavy trucks. Tata's heavy truck engines still come from Cummins, and that partnership is not changing.

The new Iveco board tells its own story about who is in charge now. Tata Sons chairman N. Chandrasekaran takes the chair at Iveco, with former Iveco boss Olof Persson staying on as CEO. Tata Motors' chief financial officer P.B. Balaji and Wagh sit on the board alongside two independent directors, Guenter Butschek and Charles Nichols, according to Electrive's report on the completed takeover. Chandrasekaran had called the original deal "a logical next step" that would let the combined group "compete on a truly global basis with two strategic home markets in India and Europe," a line from the 2025 announcement that reads differently now that the ownership is almost final.

Together, Tata and Iveco's commercial vehicle businesses sell more than 590,000 vehicles a year, with revenue split roughly evenly between Europe and India plus the rest of the world, per Electrive's figures. Iveco's defence business was never part of this deal. It sits with Leonardo, separately.

What is still open is the timing of the India handover. Tata has said where FPT fits, in the smaller trucks and vans that outsell its heavy range three to one, but not when the first FPT powered Ace or Intra rolls off a line in India. The squeeze out will settle who owns Iveco. It will not, by itself, settle how fast an Italian engine starts turning in an Indian truck.

Sources

• Tata Motors Raises Iveco Stake To 96.29%, Plans Squeeze-Out
• Tata Motors Eyes Industrial Power Growth via Iveco's FPT Unit
• Commercial vehicle manufacturer Iveco now officially part of Tata Motors
• Tata Motors secures control of Iveco Group, new board takes office