Is Harley making soooo much money they can just give it away and then stick it to the employees....WTF

MV Agusta Sold for 1 Euro http://www.motorcycle.com/news/mv-ag...uro-89860.html

Harley-Davidson to provide 20 million euro in escrow
By Motorcycle.Com Staff, Aug. 10, 2010 Claudio Castiglioni purchased 100% of the shares of MV Agusta from Harley-Davidson for the sum of 1 euro.

http://www.gctelegram.com/news/ap-Ha...idsonCo-9-4-10

Harley had previously said labor costs at its operations in Milwaukee and Tomahawk were too high. The company threatened to move production to Kansas City or another U.S. city if Wisconsin workers wouldn't agree to certain labor concessions.

The Wisconsin facilities have 1,340 active employees, Klein said. He left open the idea that there could still be job reductions, even if the contract is approved.

"I can't predict what the future will be or where the economy will be in another year," he said.

Shares of Harley were up 99 cents, or 3.8 percent, to $27.13 in regular trading Friday. After Harley's announcement late Friday, shares dipped four cents in after-hours trading.



According to an 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Harley-Davidson sold MV Agusta to Castiglioni for 1 euro, a nominal fee dwarfed by the US$109 million spent to acquire the Italian brand in 2008.

Harley-Davidson is also putting 20 million euros (US$26.1 million) in operating capital to MV Agusta, with 7 million euro provided immediately and the rest in escrow, available to Castiglioni over a 12-month period.

Claudio Castiglioni (right) and his son Giovanni Castiglioni are back in charge of MV Agusta.
Castiglioni also waives his claim to any earn-out payment for the shares Castiglioni owned before Harley-Davidson acquired MV Agusta. Under the terms of the original sale, Castiglioni was due a contingent payment in 2016.

In addition to the $109 million spent to acquire MV Agusta, including $70 million to pay off existing debts, Harley-Davidson has written off $162.6 million in taxes for the Italian brand.
This isn’t the first time MV Agusta has been sold for 1 euro. In 2005, Malaysian carmaker Proton, which holds majority ownership of Lotus, sold its ownership MV Agusta to Italian finance company GEVI SpA. Proton originally paid 70 million euro for MV Agusta a year earlier

 

I think you are confused, it is not the fact that Harley is making lots of money so they can afford to sell MV for a Euro. The reason they sold it for a Euro is it was losing them lots of money. Public corporations don't give things away when they can sell them.

The labor deal is a different thing all together.

 

I never understood the MV Agusta purchase in the first place. Shed the baggage and move on.

spiz

 

I also say Harley should stay focused on their core products. I never understood the MV Augusta or the Buell rationale.

 

H-D's Wisconsin operations had 80 cubic inches of employees!

I'm afraid in a not too distant future they will be down to the 45 incher range.

 

They're not stupid for getting rid of MV Agusta... they were stupid to purchase it in the first place.

 

Sometimes, you just have to get out from under a bad decision. They got out from under it. Kind of like having a boat, wanting to sell it, but no one wants to buy it, and the insruance and upkeep is costing you an arm and a leg....at some point you have to cut your losses.

~Joe

 

The Stupid part is Buying them selfs out and Paying $26 Million to MV and Paying $ 20 Million to Buell above the orginal buy in price of $160 million plus dollars...

That is $ 46 + Million Dollars they could have paid employess and R&D......

 

Was Harley after some sort of technology or product line that MV Augusta owned? Maybe that is why they acquired the company. Sometimes it is cheaper to just buy a company than to develop the technology yourself.

m.a.c.

 

Employees are already paid.