Deripaska eyes Land Rover and Jaguar

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Billionaire tycoon Oleg Deripaska, the head of Russian automaker GAZ GAZA.RTS, is interested in Ford's (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research) premium British brands Jaguar and Land Rover, German business weekly WirtschaftsWoche reported on Saturday.

Citing a source or sources from Ford, it said that Deripaska would also be a possible bidder for Volvo should Ford decide to sell the Swedish brand.

The magazine quoted a spokeswoman for the GAZ Group as saying: "We have already announced before that we are interested in growing through mergers and acquisitions."

Another firm owned by Deripaska, Basic Element, agreed in May to invest $1.54 billion (759 million pounds) in Canadian auto parts supplier Magna (MGa.TO: Quote, Profile, Research).

The Guardian and Russia's Izvestia had reported last August that Deripaska may buy the troubled Jaguar brand from Ford.

Ford of Europe was not immediately available for comment.