India is home to many corporate houses.

The Tata Group, founded in 1868 by Jamshetji Tata is Indias largest corporate business group. In 2008, one of its listed group companies, Tata motors (TML) seized a strategic opportunity by bidding for Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) which had been put up for sale by Ford Motors. The JLR acquisition was formally concluded in June 2008 with a final price of US$2.3bn and a total cost of over US$3bn to be financed through a short-term bridge loan. In many ways this was a transformational and successful acquisition for TML. In starting with our analysis of this transaction we would like to delve into the corporate strategy of the parties involved in the deal, namely Tata Motors and JLR and their corporate parents, the Tata group and Ford Motors. We look at the portfolio composition of the players and analyse their strategies to grow this portfolio and gain strategic advantages through corporate development. The Tata Group As of 2008, the Tata group consisted of close to 28 publicly listed and a large number of private companies active across seven core business sectors. Group revenues were at US$70.8bn in Fy0809 (March ending financial year) with International sales making up 65% of the pie.

The Tata group defines its common vision as leadership with trust and has two clearly defined growth drivers