mgf.be

[John]

Uitgegeven: 22 juli 2005 20:56

LONDEN - De failliete Britse autofabrikant MG Rover is verkocht aan het Chinese bedrijf Nanjing Automotive. Dat hebben bewindvoerders meegedeeld, zo meldde het Britse persbureau Press Association vrijdagavond.

MG Rover moest in april uitstel van betaling aanvragen na het mislukken van onderhandelingen over een overname door een andere Chinese onderneming, Shanghai Automotive Industry Company. Dat bedrijf toonde deze maand opnieuw belangstelling, net als een consortium onder leiding van de Britse zakenman David James.

Bron: Nu.nl
http://www.nu.nl/news/563007/32/%27MG_R ... jf%27.html

Ben nog wel benieuwd wat er nu precies verkocht is, gezien alle reeds 'weggegeven' patenten enzo.

[John]

Last Updated: Saturday, 23 July, 2005, 07:23 GMT 08:23 UK
Chinese carmaker Nanjing Automotive has secured ownership of MG Rover for an unknown sum, after a three-way bidding battle spread over three months.

It was one of two Chinese companies trying to buy the assets of MG Rover, the other being Shanghai Automotive.
Although Nanjing was the smaller firm it secured a deal with administrators PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) on Friday.
"Nanjing will now begin to take control of the assets and develop its plans for the future," said Tony Lomas of PwC.
The news is a blow for UK businessman David James, whose Kimber group had put in two bids to buy parts of Rover.
Earlier this week Mr James, the company-recovery specialist who helped revive the Millennium Dome, told the BBC the combined value of his bid would be about £40m.

Technical facility

Joint administrator Mr Lomas said Nanjing intended to relocate the engine plant and some car production plant to China but to "retain some car production plant in the UK".
He added that Nanjing, China's oldest carmaker, also planned to develop an R&D and technical facility in the UK.
It is still not known how many workers Nanjing will employ. But according to the BBC's Nils Blythe if Nanjing's proposed long-term plans come to fruition it could create 2,000 jobs in the UK.
For a transitional period a rump workforce will continue to be employed by MG Rover Group and engine maker Powertrain.
They will assist the administrators as they have for the last three-and-a-half months, following the demise of Rover in early April when it ran out of money after a proposed tie-up with SAIC collapsed.

"In the meantime Nanjing Automobile (Group) Corporation intends to begin to hire staff to assist it in implementing and developing its strategy," Mr Lomas said.

Nanjing had been close to winning the bidding war a week ago, but SAIC then came back with another offer, and Mr James put in his offers this week.
"It is not really a surprise that one of the Chinese bidders has won as they were looking to buy the whole operation," Dr David Bailey, of the University of Birmingham's business school told the BBC.
"However some had thought that Shanghai was the front runner given the previous proposed tie-up with Rover and the fact they had bought some of the copyrights."

Production plans

Nanjing had earlier said it wanted to restart car production in the West Midlands, but may look to use other sites as well as the former Rover site at Longbridge in Birmingham.
Cars will be built under the MG marque and may include sports models and small and medium sized vehicles.
However, it also previously expressed plans to shift production of small and medium-sized cars to China, and then export kits to the UK for final assembly.
That has lead the T&G union to fear the Chinese company may not maintain substantial production in the UK.

"Having viewed both the Nanjing and SAIC bids, there is no doubt in our mind that on first viewing the SAIC proposals appeared to suggest more jobs for Britain, " Tony Woodley, general secretary of the union said on Friday.
He said the union would now look to make "urgent contact" with Nanjing for talks on jobs.
Nanjing has indicated before it plans to use MG as its main marque in Europe while developing other MG Rover brands, such as Austin, elsewhere.
Arup has been advising Nanjing on the proposed deal and chairman John Miles said: "The fact that Nanjing has bought the entirety of MG is an indication of their bigger intention to become a global automotive company."

Property rights

However, Nanjing's successful bid could start a prolonged legal battle.
SAIC bought the intellectual property rights to sell the Rover 25 and 75 models in China during a previous attempt to take over the carmaker.
Nanjing had previously rejected any claims that SAIC's ownership of the rights to the Rover 25 and 75 engines would affect its plans.

And Honda - which owned the rights to some of MG Rover's technology - has repossessed equipment and blueprints, making it more difficult for any buyer to restart production of the Rover 45 - based on the Honda Civic - or MG ZS models.

"It is an interesting legal position, maybe Nanjing think they can make MG models of the 25 and 75," said Dr Bailey.
"There could still be some tie-up between the two Chinese firms. After all, earlier in the year when MG Rover and SAIC were having talks Nanjing had planned to be a joint partner in that."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/b ... 708739.stm

Voor nog meer details: Cautious welcome for Rover sale
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4709287.stm

[Demor]

Dat word nog lachen, dan....

[Kasper]

Al met al denk ik dat er voorlopig bitter weinig van het echte werk zal komen: MG's maken.

Zolang de advokaten en accountants aan het touwtrekken blijven gebeurt er niets positiefs. We zullen moeten zien hoe de dobbelsteen valt....

[MGF]

Aan de ene kant jammer dat het bedrijf niet verkocht is aan Saic, ik had het idee dat die meer te bieden hadden, maar aan de andere toch wel mooi, nu heeft Saic alleen de (verouderde) Rover 25/Rover 75/MG ZR/MG ZT en geen merk rechten, bovendien denk ik dat niemand zit te wachten op een Rover 75 met een chinees logo.

[Bruno]

Ach, t'heeft ook zijn voordelen, zoals iemand me zei op Silverstone : "Nu kan je naar de garage gaan en vragen naar bijvoorbeeld nummertje 45, eventueel met frietjes graag"

[John]

... met frietjes graag"

Zal dan eerder met 'flietjes' zijn
Hoop alleen niet dat ze bij elk onderhoud gaan vragen over ook sambal bij moet.
Help Paul !!! jullie blijven toch gewoon MG doen hè ? !!!

[Bruno]

Neen, hij wordt dus een meeneem chinees !

[Jupilerman]

zoals iemand me zei op Silverstone

Hoe was´t eigenlijk op SS. Ik hoor weinig feedback. Is het shoppen goed verlopen? Chassis tegen de grond naar huis gereden
foto´s geupload. Nog enige korting kunnen bemachtigen op de bestellingen? je begrijpt dat dat mij natuurlijk interesseert