皇冠体育app

Rover's talks with SAIC continue
(Shenzhen Daily/Agencies)
Updated: 2005-04-05 14:17

British Trade Secretary Patricia Hewitt said talks between MG Rover and 皇冠体育app鈥檚 biggest carmaker were the 鈥渙nly hope鈥� for the British firm, the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) reported on its Web site Monday.

British trade officials were in 皇冠体育app for last-ditch talks with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. (SAIC) on a 1 billion pounds (US$1.88 billion) investment in Rover, the BBC reported.

鈥淲e want to see this deal succeed,鈥� said Hewitt on Sunday, adding it 鈥渞eally is the only hope for Rover and thousands of skilled workers in the West Midlands.鈥�

Under the proposed deal, the Chinese firm would inject cash into Rover to help it develop new models; in return it would secure rights to Rover鈥檚 more advanced technology. The deal is expected to involve the creation of a new joint venture company 70 percent owned by SAIC, which could take time to set up.

The British Government said over the weekend it was ready to offer Rover a bridging loan to keep it afloat long enough to clinch the deal.

But British media have reported that SAIC was concerned about the state of Rover鈥檚 pension fund.

Rover denied a newspaper report it had a 400 million pounds hole in its pension fund.

The BBC report cited a spokesman for the company as saying the figure was 鈥渃ompletely misleading.鈥�

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