Tata Motors now controls Iveco, after paying about €3.4 billion for 89.42% of the Italian truck and bus maker. The deal makes Tata a major commercial vehicle maker in both India and Europe. Integrating it will be harder than buying it.
Iveco officially became part of Tata Motors on Friday. Tata’s subsidiary, TML CV Holdings B.V., completed the initial settlement of its tender offer and acquired 238,157,212 Iveco shares, 89.42% of the company excluding treasury shares, at €14.40 per share in cash.
That is about €3.43 billion, or roughly ₹35,000–36,000 crore at current exchange rates. It is one of the largest overseas acquisitions by an Indian automaker.
How the deal came together
Tata first announced the deal in July 2025 at €14.10 a share, with support from Exor, the Agnelli family holding company and Iveco’s largest shareholder. Iveco’s defence business, which makes military trucks and armoured vehicles, was carved out and sold separately to Leonardo, as required.
Tata raised the offer by €0.30 to €14.40 on 9 October after some shareholders objected. Iveco shareholders approved all resolutions on 16 October, including an alternative restructuring plan in case Tata does not reach 95% ownership. The offer closed on 26 October, and settlement followed on Friday.
A second offer period may follow to buy the remaining shares. Iveco CEO Olof Persson will stay in his role, and a new board took office on Friday.
Why Tata wants Iveco
The logic is diversification. Tata Motors’ commercial vehicle business has depended heavily on India, a large but cyclical market where truck demand swings with infrastructure spending, interest rates and freight activity. Iveco brings a large European presence in trucks, buses and powertrains, with limited overlap with Tata’s existing operations.
Tata chairman N Chandrasekaran said when the deal was announced that it would let the company compete globally with two home markets, India and Europe.
The risks
There are real challenges. European truck makers are going through an expensive shift to electric and hydrogen vehicles under strict emissions rules. Iveco is smaller than leaders such as Daimler Truck, Volvo and Traton, so it will need significant investment to keep up.
Tata has done this before. It bought Jaguar Land Rover in 2008, a deal that struggled at first before becoming a major profit source. It also bought Daewoo’s Korean truck business. It knows both the potential gains and the difficulty of managing a large European business from India.
The timing is mixed. Tata’s commercial vehicle business is in good shape: last week it reported quarterly profit of ₹1,257 crore and net cash of about ₹15,900 crore. October sales rose 27% to 47,652 units. But Europe’s economy is weak, with high energy prices and rising interest rates, which reduces truck demand.
What to watch
The next steps are reaching full ownership, merging procurement and engineering to cut costs, and providing the first consolidated financial results that include Iveco. Investors will want to see whether Tata can lift Iveco’s margins as it did at JLR, and how much the integration will cost.
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