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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127378
eNEWS eU L averda, Japanese form i,---oi_nt_v_en tu r_e __ Supplementary Evidence: . Rumorsand Realities n like in oth er countries lik e Britain, where memories of the di sastrous T riumph mo torcycle coo perat ive are on ly too vivid , Ital y has many workers cooperatives opera ting successfu lly, go verne d by the so-cal led 'Legge Marcor a ' under whic h, provided th ey fulfill certai n cri teria (inclu di ng a lim itation on the amo unt of pri vate capi tal inves ted - a sort of mean s test ), such coo pera tives are able to receive substa nt ial gra nts as well as of Coopera tives of Vicenza Province (there are tha t many of them! ). He brought in the Gruppo Zanin i, a merchant bank and financia l services company active in the Vicenza area, wh ose preside nt Dom en ico Zani n i acq uired th e max imum 25%of Laverda shares perm issibl e under the Legge Marcora for h is company , thoug h i t is understood Zan ini sta nds to receive a somewhat hi gher percentua l sha re of eve nt ua l profits in return fo r hi s in vestme n t. The size of this is unknown, but it's believe d that keep in g th e 60 coo perative me m be rs _ of the funds, both loan and gran t must be repaid in full - a sa le bei ng co ns titu ted by increasin g the private capita l in the com pany to more tha n 25%at p resen t. . However, altho ugh the terms and amounts of the go vern ment aid to Laverda were agreed last autu mn , no ' cash has yet been received from Rome. Lievor e publicly a ttrib u tes this to 'b ureaucra tic delays', but two o ther reasons for the delay hav e been canvassed: one is th e political infighting betw een sha des of political opinio n w h ic h mi ght mak e th e Soci ali st 20% to Gru ppo Zanini. But the spl itbetween Shinken and the Italians was no t revealed. ***** All La verda motorcycle products developed in conjuction with KKLj e.g, the V-6 replica - will als o be sold in o ther coun tries through the Ital ian factory. ***** When asked why Sh inken , a company with no previous motorcycle con nections, should want to becom e Sixty long-time Laverda employees, who are now members of the workers cooperarive, Nuova Moto Laverda, currently man the factory in Brega nze, Ita ly. i nteres t-free for th e It ali an State. Laverda is prese ntly the o nly Ital ian coope rati ve produ ci ng mo torcycles (tho ug h the bankrupt Fantic factory may shortly also join them ), and was fou nded in May 1989 after the Milanbased investm ent hou se Prinefi, owned by the Rin aldini family, decided to sh u t the factory dow n. Prin efi had acq uired the Laverda fami ly's shareholdin g in the com pany in 1986 for the princely sum of 1000 lir e ($.50) in a takeover nego tiated by the courtappointed receiver who took over dayto-day ru nn ing of the inso lvent compa ny in Mar ch 1985. Pr inefi had hoped to find a bu yer for Laverda, but were unable to do so; at the point they pu lled out, the workers coo perative took over, no w headed by Nicol a L ie vore , a fo rmer assem b ly li ne wor ker. T here are p rese nt Iy 60 members of the coo pera tive, all lo ngti me Laverda wor kers. ***** 28 Nuova Moto Lave rda, as the co-op is kn own, had as its o rigina l president Ugo Holzer, chairma n of th e Leagu e emp loyed over the past 18 mo nt hs , together with o ther factory overhea ds, has cost in the region of 2.5 bill ion lire ($ 1.9 mill ion ). It's un clear if any of th is sum was provided by go vernment funds . ***** Havin g sa tisfied an industrial court that th ey co ns ti tute a cooperati ve un der th e terms of the Legge Marcom, Laverda sho uld by now have received a sum believed to be four bi lli o n lire ($3.1 million ) agreed by the Ita lian gove rnment in Rome as a cash han do u t d ue th em under th e law . In add itio n , they have also been granted a lo w-interest sta te loan of 10 bill io n lire ($7.9 mill ion ) at j ust 3.5% (aga ins t any th ing up to 18% on the open market) whi ch is repayable o nl y after 10 years. The p ur pose of th is generosity is to enable the cooperative to get back o n its feet again , with a view to retu rning to the private section, either via a sha re flotation or o utrig ht sale, in due course before the 10 years are up. Ho wever, if a sale takes p lace wit hi n th ree years of the dat e of receipt govern ment in Rome delay handing o ut cash to a coo perative championed by its po litica l rivals, while the other is the rumors of th e japanese tak eover whic h reached Rome after IFMA last . fall; were this to be th e case, the money wou ld not be forthcoming - undoubtedly o ne reason Zanini and Laverda execu tives were at such pains to sooth the idea l that Shi nken have bought a controlli ng interest in La verda, Bu t the money still hasn 't been paid. . . ***** In 1992, the 25% cei ling o n private sharehoJding in a state-aided cooperative will be ra ised to 50%, with th e private shareholder also able to nominate the president of the com pa ny, th u s effecti vely giv i ng him / th em control. It is not kno wn if Zan ini plans to avai l hi mse lf of th is o pportu nity visa-vis La verda. ***** At the press conference, Domenico Zanini revealed that the Italian shareholding in La verda j apan would be spli t 80% to Nu ova Moto Laverda, and involved in selling motorcycles (espe cia lly those made by such a troubled com pany-as Laverda), Shinken president Takao Chinoi p ulled out a business card with a color photo of a 'g u ll -wing ' Mer cedes 300SL on it . Apparently, Shinken already imports replicas of this classic sports car into japan from California, with some success. The Group C Laverda Supercar project ' thus appears to be the p ri nci pa l immediate inter est for Shinken, for whom the chance to market a street-lega l racing car homologa ted in Europe (An do rra ? San Marino?) for use on the public hi ghway, whic h thus en ti tles it to be sold for the same use in japan, ties in with their existing activities. Som e wonder wh ether the Group C car project is in fact The Deal , with bikes a sort of op tio nal exira ... . ***** .. . but th ere again, o ne of the members of th e japanese group vis-. iting Laverda was none other than t Fujio Yoshimura, who now that his legendary father Pops is in semi-