Reply #4: £200m question over Rover accounts.... and the rest!!

[Henny Penny]

An interesting account in the Guardian describes how a group of 4 business men managed to buy the company for just £10, when its assets were worth considerably more.

The four, whose company is known as Phoenix Venture Holdings said that an apparent £200 million missing from the company accounts could be explained by "accounting technicalities"! Well mystery solved then!

>>snip
The four paid £10 for MG Rover, but the business came with a multi-million pound dowry of cash and assets. BMW gave MG Rover an interest-free loan of £427m, repayable by 2049, and handed over cars made, but not sold, valued at £385m.

The business also came with more than £112m of cash. BMW gave the car company a further £65m in cash when it handed over the Powertrain business in 2001.

Subsequently Phoenix Venture Holdings (PVH), the private company controlled by the Phoenix four, raised more than £200m by selling off Longbridge land and buildings, the parts business and technology to SAIC.

It was MG Rover's failure to forge an alliance with SAIC which triggered the its demise.

>> end quote

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1455667,00.html

:evilfrown: