BMW's governing board announced in a recent press release that part of the Blue Roundel's extraordinary success last year was thanks to a wise investment in Rolls-Royce plc. The "exchangeable bond" yielded €327 million ($429 million) for BMW Group.

Not to confuse - Rolls-Royce Motor Cars and Rolls-Royce plc (jet engine manufacturer) are two, entirely separate entities now and have been thus for years. RR plc owned the rights to the name "Rolls-Royce" (of RR Motor Cars) until BMW bought the name and its rights from them when the Germans took control of the Rolls-Royce marque in 2003.

And for those who might not recall or appreciate the historical significance here, when Bayerische Motoren Werke was founded in 1916, the company produced airplane engines.

[Source: BMW]