Press Report : LDV takeover to be completed ‘by end of month’

Graeme Brown, Birmingham Post, 8th May, 2009

LDV bosses have set a target of less than a month to complete the Weststar take-over and save thousands of UK jobs. The vanmaker said the Malaysian group was ‘well advanced” on due diligence of LDV’s books, raising hopes an agreement could be struck within four weeks.

The pledge was made as hundreds of workers waited to hear when they would next be paid following the rescue package announced yesterday by the Washwood Heath firm. LDV PR and Marketing Director Guy Jones said last night: ‘Talks are continuing apace. The target for completion is within a month. We hope by the end of the month everything will be wrapped up. The investors are at a pretty advanced stage on due diligence – they have got all the information they require and it is now a case of checking through it. After that, you are then down to the legalities and documentation transactions.”

Talks between Weststar and LDV’s Russian owners GAZ Group were set to continue in Birmingham today after a potential collapse into administration had been averted at the 11th hour. The rescue package, announced following months of uncertainty and a five-month long production shutdown, emerged after the Government agreed to provide a £5million bridging loan to allow breathing space for the proposed deal. But workers still do not know when production will resume at the factory – or whether their jobs are safe,

A worker contributing to the LDV blog said: ‘I’ve not been paid a penny this week. Once again LDV comes up trumps when it comes to letting its workforce down.” However, Mr Jones said worker payments depended on when the Government bridging loan filtered through to LDV. ‘We hope to announce some news very shortly,” he said.

[Source: Birmingham Post]

Clive Goldthorp

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