Tata Motors shares fall ahead of Ford deal

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The deal was signed on Tuesday and Ford plans to publicly announce the sale in New York at 0800 EST (noon British time), sources told Reuters on Tuesday.

Analysts want to know what Tata Motors has agreed to, and how it plans to integrate the marquee brands into its stable of sturdy trucks and buses and functional passenger cars, including the $2,500 Nano, the world's cheapest car which it plans to launch later this year.

"We need to know what are the liabilities in this deal, what's going to be the position of Tata Motors' balance sheet," said R.K. Gupta, managing director of Taurus Mutual Fund in New Delhi.

"Let's see the fine print of the deal," he said.

Tata Motors, India's top bus and truck maker, has been in talks with Ford since it was chosen as the front runner to buy Jaguar and Land Rover a few days into 2008.

At 12.21 p.m. (0651 GMT), shares in Tata Motors, also India's No. 3 car maker, were down 4.1 percent at 652 rupees in a Mumbai market that was down 0.5 percent.

The stock is down about 12 percent this year, while the main index has fallen more the 20 percent.

At least one analyst was upbeat about the deal, saying it would help Tata Motors move into the global marketplace.

"The deal is positive in terms of Tata being able to make a statement that they have a global footprint, instead of being a company just focused on the domestic market," said Mohit Arora, managing director for India at J.D. Power Asia-Pacific.

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