Indian automotive giant Bajaj finally has a controlling stake in KTM. On Wednesday, October 23rd, Bajaj was granted permission by the Austrian financial authorities to purchase the shares still held indirectly by former KTM CEO Stefan Pierer, giving them overall control of Pierer Mobility, the parent company of KTM.
In an announcement on the Pierer Mobility corporate website, the organization announced that Bajaj Auto International Holdings B.V., the Amsterdam-based holding company for Bajaj, had been granted permission to exercise its option to buy 50,100 shares in Pierer Bajaj AG, giving them 100% of the shares in the company.
Pierer Bajaj AG owns 74.9% of Pierer Mobility, the remaining shares being publicly traded on Swiss and Austrian stock markets. That gives Pierer Bajaj a controlling stake in KTM, and the ability to make decisions about the future of the company. It also means that former CEO Stefan Pierer, the man who saved KTM from bankruptcy in the early 1990s, no longer has any stake in the Austrian motorcycle manufacturer.
