Imagine....

You're in India, your company is so-so (but big) and you want to buy Jaguar & Land Rover...

Well, you simply turn to Citigroup a.o., (once) one of US's largest Financials, who lost more than 65% of it's value in the past year, and ask for a 'one-year Bridge Loan' of $ 3 Billion.

Maybe it's me.....

Tata Motors gets $3 bln loan from Citi, JPMorgan

HONG KONG (Reuters) - India's Tata Motors Ltd (TAMO.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) has signed a deal to receive a $3 billion one-year bridge loan from Citigroup (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and JPMorgan (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) to help finance a potential purchase of luxury brands Jaguar and Land Rover, sources familiar with the deal said on Tuesday.

"It is signed, but it's still at an early process," said one of the sources, who was not authorized to speak to the media.

A separate source briefed on the deal later said the loan would be for one year.

Citigroup, JPMorgan and Tata Motors all declined to comment.

Tata is expected to agree on a deal by the end of the month to purchase the two well-known UK brands from U.S. auto maker Ford Motor (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research), according to media reports in India.

The Indian firm could raise up to $4 billion on domestic and overseas debt markets, based on its previous announcements and media reports.

Tata is believed also to need money to help pay for the manufacturing of the world's cheapest car, the Nano, that it will launch in the second half of the year.

But Tata will face a tough debt market environment, as a global financial crisis has raised the premiums demanded by investors, especially from riskier Asian issuers.

Standard & Poor's placed Tata Motors on review for a possible downgrade in January from its current high-yield "BB+" rating, citing the potential increase in its debt load from the acquisition of the venerable Jaguar and Land Rover brands.

Investors have also worried about the amount of leveraged loans held by U.S. lenders, which had in previous years helped to finance a boom in mergers and acquisitions by lending the money to acquirers and then selling off the loans to other investors.

Investors are eagerly awaiting quarterly earnings results from U.S. financial firms, including Lehman Brothers (LEH.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Goldman Sachs (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) later on Tuesday, for further clues about soured debt holdings in the sector.

JPMorgan on Sunday announced it would buy stricken Bear Stearns (BSC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) for only $2 a share, valuing the U.S. investment bank at about $236 million in a bailout that had received partial backing from the Federal Reserve.

http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNew...ell&sp=true

LaoPo

3 billion USD for a dog of a company (Jaguar) and what will become another dog (Land Rover) if the deal goes through.... Overpriced. Jaguar has sucked for as long as I can remember and the last best thing to happen to Land Rover was when it was in BMW's hands, from then on it's been on bad ride down (ok, I admit I like the Supercharged Range Rover, but that's it).

I'd rather buy BearStearns for a measly 236 million USD......

At first glance, I thought it said Jaguar and Land Rover were being bought by Tatra, the Czech company....or by Tata Young....or some saloon named Tatters.

3 billion USD for a dog of a company (Jaguar) and what will become another dog (Land Rover) if the deal goes through.... Overpriced. Jaguar has sucked for as long as I can remember and the last best thing to happen to Land Rover was when it was in BMW's hands, from then on it's been on bad ride down (ok, I admit I like the Supercharged Range Rover, but that's it).

I'd rather buy BearStearns for a measly 236 million USD......

So, why didn't you ?

You would have made at least $ 115 Million today as the shares shot up by more than 50%...

LaoPo

^^^^ unfortunately I was stuck in traffic, deal could not be made and with the slow Thais and the line at the ATM.....