US law firm Taylor Wessing, acting on behalf of the Sardarov family’s holding company Art of Mobility in its intended reacquisition of KTM’s 50.1% shareholding in the Italian motorcycle brand MV Agusta, has insisted that the purchase is not yet a “done deal”. While a minority shareholding was already owned by Art of Mobility, transferring the majority is proving complex and is apparently still unresolved.
MV Agusta is being advised by its General Counsel Stefania Cane and the Italian law firm PedersoliGattai. The sellers – presumably lawyers representing whatever remains of KTM or its administrator – have been named as Verena Schneglberger-Grossmann and Fritz Ecker of Oberhammer Rechtsanwälte. Timur Sardarov’s senior advisory team has been led by Taylor Wessing partners Ivo Deskovic and Philipp Zumbo.
“This undertaking has proved to be extremely challenging, not least due to the extensive integration of target companies in the insolvent KTM Group,” explained Zumbo about the transaction. Deskovic added: “Implementation is still subject to approval by the Austrian and Italian authorities, the banks financing KTM, the KTM creditors’ committee and the insolvency court, as well as the insolvency administrator of KTM. We nevertheless hope that a deal should be completed in the first half of 2025.”
However, Timur Sardarov has remonikered himself as Art of Mobility chief executive and jumped the gun, claiming to have re-established full control of the MV Agusta Group, officially marking its separation from KTM. Waffle coming out of Varese suggested that a strategic agreement is in place ensuring that MV Agusta remains completely uninvolved in KTM’s ongoing financial restructuring process.
A statement went on to say MV Agusta has strengthened its financial stability under a fully revitalised management team over the past 18 months and had sold four thousand motorcycles in 2024, despite the fact that it was still a subsidiary of KTM during that period. Oddly, there was also no mention of several thousand MV Agusta motorcycles reportedly manufactured in Mattighofen by KTM last year.
Further unsubstantiated waffle followed. The company also aims to safeguard its network of suppliers and dealers, shielded from any potential financial disruptions, keeping them from being affected by KTM’s restructuring process and reinforcing MV Agusta’s stability and commitment to its stakeholders. All 219 active sales points in MV Agusta’s global sales network, including 41 service points, have allegedly been ring-fenced to pursue business as usual. And additionally, 20 non-European importers have been recruited as part of the distribution network.
Sardarov couldn’t resist eulogising about what is a non-event for the time being. “This is a moment of pride for all of us at MV Agusta,” he opined. “Regaining full control of the company means we are now stronger and more focused than ever on delivering excellence.”
He appears to have forgotten that the original distress disposal of a controlling interest in MV Agusta came about when his father, Russian oligarch Rashid Sardarov, fell out with the Kremlin and the source of his wealth – and further MV Agusta investment capital – dried up. Rashid even had to sell his Superyacht! Stefan Pierer and KTM then reputedly paid €220m for 50.1% of its equity.
Flaunting the Austrian talent for never giving a straight answer when an obtuse one will do, we have since discovered that the asking price for a Sardarov repurchase is in the “mid-double-digit million range”. Leaving aside the Sardarov family’s ability to find enough sacks full of roubles (or euros), this distinctly vague sum smacks of a significant haircut for aggrieved KTM and Pierer Mobility creditors. It could easily be below the threshold they will tolerate. No wonder Ivo Deskovic and his army of lawyers at Taylor Wessing are being careful about their completion date or, indeed, any absolutely done deal at all.