News 25 Mar 2016

MV Agusta applies for bankruptcy

Hopes that reorganisation of the Italian manufacturer will secure its future.

Source: Supplied.

Source: Supplied.

It has been reported that MV Agusta has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in an attempt to try and find a way to reorganise its business and continue to build the iconic Italian motorcycles.

Unlike a typical bankruptcy where a company goes into receivership and assets are sold to recoup money for debts, Chapter 11 allows a period to try and get the business into profit and repay debts.

Since the brand’s resurrection by Cagiva in 1991 it has never been smooth sailing for MV. After a period of greatness on the back of the release of the F4 in the mid-90s, things went downhill. It was bought by Malaysian car builder Proton in 2004, sold to an equity firm in 2005, bought by Harley-Davidson in 2008, and in 2010 it was bought off Harley-Davidson by Cagiva founder’s son Claudio Castiglioni.

In 2013 Mercedes-AMG took 25 percent ownership of the company with the promise of shared resources and know-how to benefit MV as it has done with Ducati and Audi’s similar partnership. There has been no official statement from MV Agusta, or Mercedes-AMG, about the future of the company but it is expected to come early next week as most of Europe has national holidays for Easter until then.

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