I wonder how much alcohol they gave him?!?!??!

 

Rather alarming news given the observations posted on the other thread "Visited Longbridge today":

Just put down a deposit at MG Rover direct on a ZT-T, but was interested for any snipets of news.

There were a lot of Chinese around the site and I gather that they are all over the factory.

There is a 2 year agreement for Powertrain to supply engines to SAIC and it it reckoned that although SAIC have rights to cars and engines, these are not EXCLUSIVE rights.

Honda also on site - questions over aspects of their equipment supplied to the site and their continuing interest in it.

Generally reckoned that SAIC will need outside help with engineering and technical help to get anything into production. At the moment they have a factory and some drawings and not much else.

I don't think Mr Mosely is a contender, but no opiinion was forthcoming on the final outcome. Most probable just MG sports car production.

I don't think that this adds much to what's already known - I just hope that does not all end up being shipped to China.

Nanjing employees perhaps? :err:

 

Nanjing employees perhaps? :err:

Depending on when it was, quite likely.

 

What a **** he should be helping save British jobs.

 

Depending on when it was, quite likely.

Whenever it was it's absolutely disgraceful. It displays ignorance, short-sightedness and selfishness.

The P4/5 should be working to assist those parties who wish to resume volume production at LB, not attempting to advise the Chinese on picking up the assets at rock-bottom price and shipping them to China, where the jobs will be created and car-making jobs will be lost forever in Britain.

This is yet another nail in the coffin of the P4/5.

I wonder if Mr Stephenson will be retained as a 'consultant' by these people if they are successful?

 

I am sure he will be getting a good share out of it...

 

Nanjing have a license to make the R45 don't they, which they accquired from SAIC? Nanjing and SAIC were going to be 80/20 partners in the Chinese end of the JV so they'll be working together. And Honda are keeping a beady eye on the R400/45 stuff (moulds, tooling?) to which they seem to have some claim. Add in the people from Geely who are alledgedly sniffing around and there must be bus loads of them turning up at LB every morning.

They'll be making a very long list of everything they need and planning how to move it to China with the specialists who do that sort of thing.
I wonder how it will play with the British media? Will there be TV news pictures with a sorrowful voice-over showing large trucks transporting huge bits of kit to the docks? Will it then finally dawn on the great British public what they've lost?

 

Whenever it was it's absolutely disgraceful. It displays ignorance, short-sightedness and selfishness.

The P4/5 should be working to assist those parties who wish to resume volume production at LB, not attempting to advise the Chinese on picking up the assets at rock-bottom price and shipping them to China, where the jobs will be created and car-making jobs will be lost forever in Britain.

This is yet another nail in the coffin of the P4/5.

I wonder if Mr Stephenson will be retained as a 'consultant' by these people if they are successful?

With respect, you seem to be judging based on very limited knowledge. God forbid you ever get jury service...

I hasten to add, I'm not an active paid-up 'supporter' of any particular bid.

 

Hang on a moment. Before we all jump to conclusions, wouldn't it be better to wait and read the full article. We all know how sensationalist the press can be in one paragraph.

How we do know that Nanjing don't want to continue production at Longbridge? After all, a Chinese bidder has been mentioned hasn't it? Therefore Nick Stephenson's advice on the bid could be useful and would mean saving British Jobs!

 

Calm down chaps - we don't actually know what Nanjing are bidding for - it has been widely reported that Nanjing is one of the three companies interested in purchasing the whole of MG Rover group - presumably as a going concern.

If Nanjing are simply there to strip assets from LB, then I am as depressed and angry as the rest of you. :banghead:

If Nanjing are there performing their due diligence prior to purchasing LB and re-starting mass production, then I am less anxious - but I think that we'd all want to see a more 'British' orientated solution if at all possible.

 

With respect, you seem to be judging based on very limited knowledge. God forbid you ever get jury service...

I hasten to add, I'm not an active paid-up 'supporter' of any particular bid.

OK, I will agree that there is much speculation about the future of MGR, and a lot of it is unfounded. Feelings run high on the issue of the future of MGR, and that is because people care about the company, its employees and its products.

Was the jury service remark really necessary though?

 

FT.com free 15-day trial period

Hi,
I have tryed to subscribe on FT.com with the free 15-day trial period option, in order to get the full article, but I don't have a credit card. About the trial period:

"You won't be charged for your FT.com subscription until the end of your 15-day trial period. You may cancel your FT.com subscription at any time during the trial by visiting Edit your profile".

Here is the link to the home page to get the 15 days free trial period:

https://registration.ft.com/registration/sub/landing.jsp?cpgid=0071&segid=01271

is there someone with a credit card, interesting in getting the 15 days free trial subscription, and post here that full article?

 

todays article from italian newspaper

I have just found a today's article from the financial italian newspaper "Il Manifesto". The full article will be available tomorrow (today is available for subscribers only).

Because the article come from Italy, I don't think it is about the last new from today... maybe they are speaking about SAIC or in general.. tomorrow I'll let you know.

BTW, here is what is available now:

The second life of Rover

Rover born again in China. Even if under other name...


UPDATE: Today I read that article, it was speaking about SAIC only (as I supposed).

 

Was the jury service remark really necessary though?

No less inflamatory than accusing someone (who I've met many times) of having 'ignorance, short-sightedness and selfishness'...

 

In the paper copy of FT I now have, Phoenix says:

"Nick Stephenson has been advuising on an unpaid basis Nanjing Automotive with the full approval of PwC. There is no business relationship between Phoenix and Nanjing"
The article goes on to say: 'Nanjing enterted the bidding late, but a group of its executives is thought to have visited Longbridge last week'.

 

A last minute rescue?

 

No less inflamatory than accusing someone (who I've met many times) of having 'ignorance, short-sightedness and selfishness'...

I'm intrigued now.

If I'd described you in that way I would have expected you to reply in the manner you did. But I didn't...

 

I'm intrigued now.

Please don't be. Life is too short.

 

Can we get back on track please!!

 

Can we get back on track please!!

amen to that

 

The full copy...

Many thanks to Paul Fucito over on MG bbs:

July 1, 2005 Friday

'Phoenix Four' executive helping Chinese company in bid for Rover

JAMES MACKINTOSH

One of the four former owners of MG Rover is helping Nanjing Automobile bid for assets of the failed Birmingham carmaker, just two months after the Chinese company chose not to go ahead with a planned rescue.

Nick Stephenson, vice- chairman of Phoenix Venture Holdings, Rover's parent company, is advising the Nanjing bid for parts of Rover being sold by PwC, the administrators.

His support is likely to be controversial as Nanjing was junior partner in a rescue plan led by Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp before Rover's collapse in April. The failure of the Chinese companies to complete the planned joint venture due to financial concerns, precipitated the carmaker's demise. Mr Stephenson, with other Phoenix directors, was widely blamed for failing to fix Rover's problems and a government investigation is under way into whether there was any wrongdoing at the company.

Rover enthusiasts have accused the Chinese of "cherry-picking" the best bits of Rover, leaving more than 5,500 former workers unemployed while buying car and engine designs.

However, Mr Stephenson is not being paid by the Chinese company and would not receive a stake in the business if Nanjing succeeded, according to Phoenix, which is still trading.

"Nick Stephenson has been advising on an unpaid basis Nanjing Auto with the full approval of PwC," Phoenix said. "There is no business relationship between Phoenix and Nanjing."

Nanjing entered the bidding late, but a group of its executives is thought to have visited Rover's Longbridge factory in Birmingham last week. It remains unclear whether Nanjing wants to buy equipment or try to restart production, and the company could not be contacted for comment last night. Under the previous plan Nanjing would have produced small Rovers at a factory in China.

Nanjing is one of China's weaker carmakers, as its joint venture with Italy's Fiat has performed poorly.

Money raised from the sale of Rover would benefit Phoenix, as the carmaker's biggest creditor, by increasing the likelihood of a payout by administrators. Phoenix has promised to put any money raised, with its remaining assets, into a trust fund for former workers.

SAIC is also trying to buy some former Rover equipment, bidding for the assets of Powertrain, the engine business. SAIC bought the designs for the engines and Rover-brand cars last year for Pounds 67m in what was supposed to be the first stage of the rescue, a move which presents a barrier to a sale of the production lines to anyone else.

The sale of the intellectual property rights has led to claims from former Rover workers and enthusiasts that the Chinese got what they wanted cheaply without having to take on the liabilities of the loss-making company, something SAIC denies.

The only other confirmed bidders are a management buy-out team, which wants the MG-branded sports cars and the racing division, and Nikolai Smolenski, owner of TVR, who wants to revive production at Longbridge.

Mr Stephenson has been heavily criticised by MPs, trade unions and workers over the Pounds 40m the four directors of Phoenix paid themselves since buying Rover for Pounds 10 from BMW in 2000.

 

Rover enthusiasts have accused the Chinese of "cherry-picking" the best bits of Rover, leaving more than 5,500 former workers unemployed while buying car and engine designs.

An impressively effective press release that Steve

 

A last minute rescue?

I'll believe it when I see it.

I don't think the Chinese are going to be remotely interested in building anything here. Thery won't want to pay car assembly workers £20k a year and have to bother with all those pesky workers' rights when they can pay them a bag of rice a year at home and just throw them down the nearest well when they expire.

As far as I can imagine, all Nanjing, or any of the other Chinese, are interested in would be some production machinery and tooling. And as for one of the P4 actually helping to bring this about - well, I'm not going to say anything, since I don't know the facts, but I think I'd be speechless anyway.

 

I'll believe it when I see it.

I don't think the Chinese are going to be remotely interested in building anything here. Thery won't want to pay car assembly workers £20k a year and have to bother with all those pesky workers' rights when they can pay them a bag of rice a year at home and just throw them down the nearest well when they expire.

Yeah, I was going to post the same thing. The Chinese are not like the Japanese. However, perhaps he Phoenix Four didn't realise that.

 

Yeah, I was going to post the same thing. The Chinese are not like the Japanese. However, perhaps he Phoenix Four didn't realise that.

On that subject you are right. The Chinese negotiate on a whole different level. There is one way and one way only,their way ,they like dealing from a position of strength and have a clear idea in their minds of what they hope to achieve and who to target to obtain it.