MV Agusta in Trouble. Again.

Castiglioni looking for investors, but unwilling to relinquish control.

By now, we should be used to the ups and downs MV Agusta and the whole Cagiva Group prior to it, cyclically go through.

The late Claudio Castiglioni had an incredible ability to get new investors interested in his motorcycle business, sell them a share (even a majority share) of the stock at a fair market-value price, and then a couple of years later after the owners had become tired of wrestling with profitability, he would buy the company back at a symbolic price of a $1, or so.

It even happened with Harley-Davidson; Castiglioni negotiated a deal that returned the Schiranna (Varese, Italy) factory and MV back to him for peanuts, after H-D had paid serious money just a few short years prior, and then invested substantially more into it after that. Castiglioni had the ability to pull this same trick on multiple occasions; how he pulled it off after the first go around, still remains a mystery!

Currently, MV Agusta is in a pickle again. Back in February we reported how the MV Agusta/Mercedes-AMG relationship hoped to showcase the motorcycles by leveraging the high-performance car brand's influence by displaying MVs in select AMG dealerships. At the time, MV was fighting to keep the production lines open and not lay workers off. But the situation has grown worse: the production lines are shut down and workers have been laid off. MV Agusta needs fresh money, and in substantial quantities. The partnership with Mercedes-AMG is not working. The German company is not willing to pour money in, unless they gain full control of MV Agusta, but CEO Giovanni Castiglioni (son of Claudio) is not willing to relinquish control of the company, let alone sell.

The financial situation has degraded badly. Castiglioni is looking for new partners, but he still wants to retain control of the company, and at this stage that seems improbable. Despite the quality of the 675/800cc three-cylinder models, company management was still incapable of producing any profits.

MV Agusta, and Cagiva prior to it, have rarely been in the black—red was the standard for years. With its 25-percent stake, Mercedes-AMG was only toeing the waters to see if it was warm enough to dive in big time. They never really made serious investment; in order to do so more significantly they wanted complete control. Giovanni Castiglioni does not want to let it go. Among potential investors, the name Andrea Bonomi (former owner of Ducati Motor) surfaced, but Bonomi also wants full control. Not an easy situation.

MV Agusta is a big name with a great heritage and a line of pretty good midsize three-cylinder bikes, but these days it takes a lot more then a few good bikes to survive in a still limping market.

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