Jaguar Land Rover raises $500m through bonds

Jaguar XKR-S is the company's finest GT vehicle British luxury auto maker Jaguar Land Rover, owned by India's Tata Motors, said on Tuesday it has raised $500 million through a bond issue to fund operating costs and growth plans ."We are pleased to have completed this transaction successfully which we believe demonstrates the confidence of the market in our company and plans," said Kenneth Gregor, chief financial officer of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR).
The funds raised by the Tata Motors subsidiary will be used for JLR's growth and capital spending plans, a statement said.
JLR reported record global sales of 357,773 vehicles in 2012, a 30 percent year-on-year rise, led by strong demand in China, Britain and the United States.
Tata Motors bought JLR from Ford in 2008 for $2.3 billion as part of plans to expand beyond Asia and the company accounted for 63 percent of the Indian firm's revenues in the last financial year.
Elsewhere, Swedish automaker Volvo is projecting "more or less stable" sales this year following a decline of six percent last year. Volvo Cars sold a total 422,000 units last year, chief executive Haakan Samuelsson told a symposium organised by the CAR Center Automotive Research.
In 2011, Volvo sold about 449,000 cars. For the current year, the automaker is expecting sales to develop in line with the different markets,a drop of about three percent in Europe, growth of around five percent in the United States and growth of seven to eight percent in China, Samuelsson said.
The Swedish brand was acquired in 2010 by the Chinese maker Geely. Volvo is targeting sales of up to 800,000 by 2020 and in order to reach this goal it is planning to focus of the high-end market, competing with the likes of BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz.

Source: AFP