German body shop custom builder and highly recognized nameplate Karmann has been having a rough time of it lately. Really rough, as a matter of fact. Last I was reading, it looked like Karmann was going down for good. Now comes word that VW, long time working partner/client of some of Karmann’s best known work – the Karmann Ghia for one, and Karmann also was responsible for various VW cabriolets throughout the years, for another – might just by the struggling firm outright.
Karmann has been teetering on the brink of closing its doors for more than a year now, but if the coachbuilder can stand being completely taken over, Volkswagen has put some serious money on the table to buy the firm outright, even though Karmann was forced into bankruptcy earlier this year.
Reuters says that Europe’s largest automaker, Volkswagen, reportedly singed an agreement with Karmann last July for $14 million for Karmann’s work developing electric vehicles, but that money is already gone and Karmann only has enough cash to continue operations into early November.
So at this point, you’d think that Karmann would be taking any lifelines thrown its way. Nevertheless, the two companies are having trouble coming to terms on an acquisition price. Karmann is looking for at least $97.5 million, but VW is said to be offering something in the low double-digit of millions range.
There is also another suitor hovering around out there. Magna Car Top Systems, a division of Canada’s Magna International, is also interested in part of Karmann’s operations. This would be the same Magna that is knee deep in trying to buy Opel from General Motors, so who knows just how serious they are about acquiring Karmann.
So it seems that what Karmann is faced with is either taking not as much money as they’d like, or going out of business entirely. If I was them, I’d go with option number one, and sign the papers the Volkswagen is holding out.
Source: Left Lane News
Photo from Flickr user exfordy
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