Harley-Davidson may face hostile takeover

Reports from the US suggest that Harley-Davidson may be facing a hostile takeover from KKR & Co, a private equity company.

KKR & Co. is a major player in finance and manages roughly $126 billion in assets, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit strategies and hedge funds.

Shares of Harley Davidson went up almost 20 percent Friday, 1 July, as investors speculated that the company might be facing a takeover by KKR & Co.

It’s worth noting that KKR & Co has not commented on the rumours, but H-D released this statement: “Harley-Davidson has periodically been the subject of marketplace speculation of various sorts. It’s our longstanding practice not to comment on market rumors and speculation.”

Harley has not been performing quite as well as investors had hoped over the last year or so, which has added to takeover rumours.

Whether the rumours are true or not, we just don’t know yet, but there has been speculation of this kind in the past without it materialising in the end.