Cagiva
In 1950 Giovanni Castiglioni founded a company producing small metal components for various uses.
By 1978 Cagiva (CAstiglioni Giovanni VArese) began producing motorcycles. They purchased a factory from Harley-Davidson with many HD models continued in production as Cagivas.
In 1985 Cagiva bought Ducati, keeping the name and motorcycle factory in Bologna, and taking some of the Ducati engines for their own machines, notably the Alazzurra and Elefant.
Cagiva continued purchasing other motorcycle brands; in ’85 they purchased Moto Morini, ’87 Husqvarna and in ’91 they bought the trademarks for MV Agusta.
In 1996 the Texas Pacific Group, a large private equity investment firm, bought the Ducati and Moto Morini brands from Cagiva.
In 1999 the company was restructured and MV Agusta became the main brand comprising of Cagiva.
In 2008, in what became a bitter and controversial move, Harley-Davidson purchased MV Agusta, Cagivas parent company and in doing so, took back control of their old factory.
The company currently operates under the name MV Agusta Motor S.p.A. but remains under the ownership of Harley-Davidson and Giovanni’s sons, Claudio and Gianfranco Casiglioni.
In 2009 Harley-Davidson announced that Cagiva was for sale, to date nothing further has been said.
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