VW wins bidding war for RR!

[quattro <quattro@acacianet.com>]

VW drives off with Rolls-Royce

                 LONDON - Volkswagen won shareholder approval Friday to buy
                 Rolls-Royce Motor Cars for about $700 million, despite angry bursts
                 of nationalism from small investors who wanted to keep the luxury
                 carmaker British. 

                 Vickers, the corporation that owns Rolls-Royce, announced at the end
                 of a stormy meeting that investors had agreed to sell Rolls-Royce to
                 Volkswagen, Europe's biggest automaker. 

                 Proxy votes and votes from big institutional shareholders appeared to
                 have been sufficiant to approve the deal, but Vickers held off the
                 announcement until it had counted ballots from smaller shareholders. 

                 "Should I call it now a Rolls-wagen?" shareholder Rodney Crowe
                 asked during Vickers' special meeting. 

                 Vickers shareholders first rejected a bid of about $554 million from
                 rival German automaker BMW. 

                 Volkswagen faces potential hurdles at it moves to take over production
                 of luxury Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars, which cost about $250,000
                 each. 

                 The jilted suitor, BMW, supplies some engines to Rolls-Royce and has
                 threatened to cut off deliveries. BMW spokesman Uwe Mahla said in
                 Munich that Friday's developments were "for us a very suprising
                 situation," and BMW sources said executives were holding an
                 emergency meeting. 

                 Rolls-Royce PLC, a separate company that makes jet engines, controls
                 the brand name and logo and has made it clear it would rather see the
                 deal go to BMW, which happens to be its partner in a jet engine
                 venture. 

                 Rolls-Royce PLC has not said whether it will negotiate with
                 Volkswagen or try to block its use of the brand name. 

                 Asked about that, the Vickers chairman, Sir Colin Chandler, insisted
                 that a 25-year-old contract that would let Rolls-Roye PLC veto the
                 purchase of Rolls-Royce Motors Cars 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." 

                 But some shareholders expressed worries that the Rolls production line
                 could be halted by the dispute. 

                 And at least one expressed disgust at the fight over a name that
                 epitomizes handmade British luxury. 

                 "What are we going to have? A flying lady on the front of the Beetle?"
                 the shareholder Crowe said at the meeting. 

                 "It's harmful for Rolls-Royce PLC and it's harmful for Vickers and they
                 don't seem to care," Carol Day said. "They're behaving like 6-year-old
                 children." 

                 The takeover announcement also was delayed by a Rolls-Royce
                 enthusiasts group, Crewe Motors, which claimed it was on the verge of
                 putting together an $815 million offer from private backers. 

                 Its chairman, Michael Shrimpton, who has failed to put together
                 previous bids, forced Vickers to adjourn the meeting for nearly one
                 hour, but the Vickers chairman was unconvinced and refused any
                 further delays. 

                 By The Associated Press


-glen