Ex-Ducati CEO & Current MV Agusta President Linked to MV Agusta as Possible Buyers

Italian newspaper Il Sol 24 Ore is reporting more rumors about MV Agusta divesture and the company’s possible suitors. As we’ve reported already, there’s been some speculation that Paolo Berlusconi might be interested in the Italian brand, but he’s also been linked to another Italian company looking for a home. Now coming out of the woodwork are some new names, with links to Ducati & MV Agusta.

First up is Claudio Castiglioni, who has been with MV Agusta since its rebirth, and helped bring the company to Harley-Davidson. Castiglioni is also the “CC” in the MV Agusta F4CC, MV’s premium edition of the premium sport bike. Castiglioni is reported backed by Italian bank San Paolo bank, and would bring MV Agusta back into full Italian ownership.

The other name being offered is ex-Ducati CEO, Federico Minoli. Minoli was CEO of Ducati in the 2000’s, and left the company in 2007, leaving his mark as being the man the gave the green light to Pierre Terblanche’s controversial Multistrada and 749/999 designs. Now with a reported €34+ million in private equity financing money, Minoli could meet the reported 2009 valuation figured pegged on the company, although we’d expect Harley-Davidson would sell the company for much less (A&R pegs MV Agusta’s current valuation at just over €27 million).

At €34 million ($45 million), Harley-Davidson would still be taking a significant loss on the investment, since the American company spent $109 million to buy MV Agusta, and $70 million of amount went to wiping the company’s bad debt from the books. While under Harley-Davidson control, MV Agusta had gotten significant retooling and efficiencies, and launched new version of its F4 and Brutale line, and an F3 is rumored to be in the works. Still the company made only €34 million in revenue during 2009, reported a €20 million loss EBIT.