Bids for Ford Motor Co.’s luxury brands Jaguar and Land Rover, whose U.S. base is in Irvine, are expected to come in at the end of October or early November.
But there is no specific deadline and bids still could come in even later.
Buyout firms One Equity Partners, Ripplewood Holdings LLC, Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd., and TPG Capital are said to be possible bidders as well as Indian automaker Tata Motors Ltd.
Sources said the potential bidders need more time to complete further research and analysis.
Cerberus Capital Management LP also is said to still be in the process, according to the sources.
Ford Chief Executive Alan Mulally said in June that it was likely the company would sell the brands, which are part of the automaker’s Premier Automotive Group.
In March, Ford sold a majority stake in Premier Automotive Group’s Aston Martin for $848 million. At the time, Merrill Lynch analyst John Murphy said Jaguar and Land Rover could fetch as much as $1.5 billion combined.
Published reports in July also said the automaker said it’s planning to sell Volvo, the other brand in the Premier Automotive Group. A sale of Volvo has been pegged at about $8 billion.
Premier Automotive Group counts 500 OC workers at its base in Irvine and posted $160 billion in sales last year.
, Alisha Gomez
