St Modwen Properties, majority owner of troubled MG Rover’s Longbridge plant, is in talks about the future of the site’s available land with receiver PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC).
Anthony Glossop, chairman of St Modwen, said: “The MG Rover operation was always a potentially challenging project, and we are very sad that so much hard work by so many people has, in the end, not been rewarded with success.
“We created a flexible package which gave MG Rover every opportunity to re-shape its property holdings according to its business requirements.
Glossop said that, looking at the short term, rent has been paid on the property until the end of June.
“We, as freeholder of the property, will be working with PWC to assist wherever we can,” he said.
“If PWC found a purchaser for the whole business or for parts of it, we would work with them to bring about the maximum viable retention of automotive activity at Longbridge.”
He continued: “If there is no viable automotive solution, or if a purchaser requires only part of the site, then it is positive that the site is in the hands of St Modwen, as we would work closely with Birmingham council, Bromsgrove council and Advantage West Midlands to put in place a regeneration strategy that would provide new business projects at the earliest possible opportunity.”
St Modwen acquired the larger part of MG Rover’s Longbridge plant – 403 acres altogether – in two transactions in 2003 and 2004.
The company paid a total of £57.5m for the site. MG Rover agreed to lease the plant back for an annual rent of £5m.
St Modwen is the preferred developer for Advantage West Midlands on the remaining 57 acres of the site, which the regional development agency acquired from MG Rover.
Administrators were appointed at MG Rover last Friday, after Chinese car group Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp withdrew from a rescue deal over concerns that Rover’s finances were too shaky.
The news follows reports in today’s newspapers that the Department of Trade and Industry has given administrator PWC a £6.5m unsecured loan to avert redundancies for a week while it tries to broker a fresh attempt at a rescue deal with Shanghai Automotive.
The Chinese firm has a veto over the sale by PWC of Rover’s assets.
Phoenix Venture Holdings, Rover’s parent company, could follow the car manufacturer into administration.
References: EGi News 11/04/05
