The sale of Ducati appears to have been frozen

Ducati sale – The negotiations for the sale of Ducati by the Volkswagen group seem to have reached a stalemate, or rather, frozen.

From what Reuters reported, the sale of the Bolognese brand, which belongs to Audi, seems to have been temporarily scuttled by the opposition of the German trade unions which, with 10 out of 20 members on the supervisory board, represent half the votes. Internal problems within Audi's management, with 4 out of 7 new members appointed in July, then further slowed down the negotiations.

The finance site, citing some internal sources, also speaks of 5 possible buyers who would have participated in a first auction. The second, binding call should have taken place this winter, but unless an agreement can be found within the council, the negotiations could be postponed to next year. At the moment, however, no meeting has been set between VW, Audi and the unions and the Porsche-Piech family, which holds a majority stake in VW. So for the moment everything will remain frozen.

The 5 companies that launched the first offer are: Edizione, Benetton's holding company, the American Polaris Industries and Investindustrial, former owner of Ducati, equity Bain Capital and PAI Partners, may lose patience, but Audi leaders do not say they are worried , and indeed, they say they are in no hurry.

Obviously, however, the current offers that value Ducati between 1,3 and 1,5 billion, 13 times the profits, are tempting for the German giant which is looking for funds, both for the diesel-gate and for investments in the electric field .

We recall that Audi acquired the Italian brand in 2012 for a sum of around 860 million euros.