KTM to buy 25% stake in MV Agusta

MV Agusta has announced that Austria’s KTM AG will acquire a 25.1% stake in the company in November this year.

The move is part of a strategic cooperation between MV Agusta and KTM’s parent firm, Pierer Mobility, that’s intended to see the latter assist MV by supporting its supply chain and taking over the company’s purchasing. Pierer Mobility will also take on partial responsibility for distributing MV Agusta’s product range.

The distribution part of the deal appears to be an extension of a commercial deal announced in September that saw KTM AG taking on the distribution of MV Agusta’s bikes in the USA, Canada and Mexico. Under that deal, KTM agreed to create a dedicated US entity to be responsible for all MV Agusta’s North American operations, and in the future the firm will sell MV Agusta bikes through some KTM dealerships as well as existing MV Agusta stores in the States. It’s a move that promises to expand the availability and customer support available to MV Agusta buyers in North America, and while MV Agusta hasn’t elaborated on how far the November deal will go in expanding that arrangement, it’s possible that customers on this side of the Atlantic will see similar benefits in the future.

The purchasing and supply chain side of the KTM-MV Agusta deal announced today should help ease difficulties in getting components and materials – something that the entire motorcycle industry, like many others, is struggling with at the moment thanks to the fallout of the Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

Both MV Agusta and KTM already have close ties with Chinese brands. MV has agreements with Qianjiang (owner of Benelli), while KTM has long had a cooperation with CFMoto, which manufacturers some of KTM’s engines and bikes and uses KTM’s LC8c engine in its own 800MT adventure bike and the upcoming 800NK roadster. KTM’s other partnerships include a long-running deal with Bajaj in India, which manufactures the Austrian firm’s small single-cylinder machines, and of course KTM also owns the GasGas and Husqvarna brands.

The cooperation between brands has been made even closer recently, with KTM agreeing a deal last month to take over distribution of CFMoto’s bikes in the UK and Ireland from 2023. KTM has also founded a company, CFMoto Europa GmbH, at its base in Mattighofen to act as a distributor for the Chinese machines.

Rumours have circulated in recent days that KTM has an interest in taking more than just the 25.1% stake in MV Agusta that’s happening this month. Italy’s Moticiclismo reports that ‘reliable sources’ say due diligence has been undertaken with the intention that KTM will eventually have the opportunity to buy MV Agusta in its entirety.

It’s an interesting synergy. KTM, while active in all MotoGP classes, has little presence in the sports bike market where MV Agusta excels (although the track-only RC 8C shows KTM has an interest in that area). Meanwhile, MV Agusta is attempting to gain a foothold in the adventure bike field that KTM already has a strong position in. A partnership in future might also give KTM access to MV Agusta’s triple and four-cylinder engines – formats that it doesn’t currently have – while allowing MV a route to singles and twins that are missing from the Italian firm’s range. With KTM’s presence in MotoGP spawning a GasGas entry next year, there’s even a possibility that the MV name might one day return to the Grand Prix grid.