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VW Wins Rolls Royce!!!!!



Looks like VW won the war.  Makes you wonder what Cosworth will do for
Audi?

Rusty A. Schlacke
Cedar Rapids, IA
'95 A6 quattro

NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Vickers PLC shareholders
                  overwhelmingly voiced their support Friday to sell its

                  Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Ltd. to Volkswagen AG
                  for 430 million pounds ($700 million).
                     The London-based industrial concern said the
                  official count was 5.1 million for the Volkswagen bid
                  and 109,000 against.
                     Vickers said Volkswagen provides a parent for
                  the British luxury car maker with the engineering
                  capability, resources, brand expertise and global
                  reach to match Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW)
                  AG, whose rival bid of 340 million was rejected.
                     But Rolls-Royce PLC -- a separate company that
                  makes jet engines and controls the brand name and
                  logo -- has made it clear it would rather see the
                  automaker go to BMW, which happens to be its
                  partner in a jet engine venture.
                     Rolls-Royce PLC hasn't said whether it will
                  negotiate with Volkswagen or try to block its use of
                  the brand name. Asked about that, Vickers
                  Chairman Sir Colin Chandler insisted that a
                  25-year-old contract that would let Rolls-Royce
                  PLC veto the purchase of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
                  Ltd. by a foreign buyer is legally unenforceable.
                     "The trademark can't go anywhere else,"
                  Chandler said. "We exclusively own the radiator, the
                  flying lady and Bentley."
                     The shareholder approval, though, came amid
                  angry nationalistic rhetoric from small investors who
                  wanted Rolls to remain under British control.
                     "For God's sake, try and take a broad view for
                  the country," said Desmond Lake, drawing cheers in
                  the packed auditorium when he referred to
                  Volkswagen's history in Nazi Germany.
                     But with 95 percent of Vickers' shares held by
                  institutional investors, support for the Volkswagen
                  bid was a near certainty, analysts and industry
                  observers said.
                     In addition, Vickers' position was bolstered by
                  news that it agreed in principle to sell its Cosworth
                  engine division to Audi AG, a wholly owned
                  subsidiary of Volkswagen, for 120 million pounds
                  cash, plus debt.
                     -- from staff and wire reports