KTM’s been playing I’m-not-touching you with shutting down recently. Selling off sub-brands, pausing production, declaring itself insolvent — all the things a major corporation does before going under. Now, though, new hope may be coming for Austria’s most orange motorcycle maker, and it’s coming from a place many long suspected: India’s Bajaj, which just took out a suspiciously KTM-sized loan for investing.
Bajaj has long been a shareholder in KTM, but RideApart spotted something new from the Indian automaker: A $632 million loan that popped up on the company’s books last week, set aside for “investments” with no further description. That loan wouldn’t make up every single dollar missing from KTM’s coffers, that’s more than any bank is likely to lend in one fell swoop, but it’s damn close to putting the folks in Austria back to work — or, at least, keeping that ready-to-race name around for a little while longer.
Could Bajaj buy KTM?
KTM is currently owned by Pierer Mobility AG, which is itself primarily owned by a joint venture called Pierer Bajaj AG — a conglomerate split nearly down the middle between the larger Pierer firm and Bajaj’s auto wing, with Pierer holding 0.2% more of the group. Bajaj already owns a bit over 37% of Pierer Mobility AG through this structure, and the Indian company’s new $632 million loan nearly covers all of the Austrian group’s $689 million market cap. The money is there, it seems, for Bajaj to take over.
Whether Bajaj would actually follow through, though, is another story. It’s possible that massive loan is just to cover existing expenses from Bajaj’s share of KTM’s parent company — investing in sprucing the company up for another buyer, as it were. As of now, nothing’s certain, but it seems like we’ll have KTM around for a little bit longer. But, in the long term, would it be so bad to ship that bright orange paint from India rather than Austria?
