Das Neuste von der BBC ...

[Scheini75]

DTI to investigate Rover accounts

Rover's future is far from bright
The UK Department of Trade and Industry has launched a probe into the collapse of carmaker MG Rover after questions were raised about its accounts.

The investigation follows the analysis of the Rover group's accounts for the years up to 2003 by a watchdog body, the Financial Reporting Council.

Rover filed for bankruptcy in April with debts of £1.4bn and a hole in its pension fund of £415m.

More than 5,500 workers lost their jobs when Rover stopped operating.

The government was criticised for not doing enough to help.

"People want to know what happened," said Trade and Industry Secretary Alan Johnson as he launched the investigation.

'Public interest'

Rover was sold to Phoenix Venture Holdings by German carmaker BMW for £10 in 2000


I have asked them to report to me as quickly as possible and in a form which will enable the report to be made public

Alan Johnson, Trade and Industry Secretary

The role of Phoenix's owners has come under scrutiny as it emerged that they paid millions of pounds to themselves in pension benefits and bonuses despite Rover's problems.

Rover's main pension scheme - which has more than 6,000 members - has a shortfall of some £415m.

"The public interest requires that the issues raised by the Financial Reporting Council and developments after 2003 when the last accounts were published be investigated by independent investigators," Mr Johnson said.

"I have asked them to report to me as quickly as possible and in a form which will enable the report to be made public."

Revival?

There are still hopes of reviving some production, but analysts said that the chances of that happening are very slim.

Companies and businesspeople form China, Iran and Russia have all been linked with a possible buyout of Rover, but to little avail.

A report by administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has shown that Rover was losing £25m a month before it declared itself bankrupt.

Creditors are expected only to get a small part of the money they are owed.

Rover's creditors include car dealers, former owner Phoenix Venture Holdings, the VAT man, pension funds and BMW.



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[Scheini75]

Und noch mehr ...
Seaside trips for Rover families

Gemma Cartwright said she was thankful for the opportunity
Families of MG Rover workers made redundant when the company collapsed are taking advantage of free train services to seaside resorts in Devon.

The free trips with Virgin Trains depart from Longbridge every day this week to Dawlish Warren, Dawlish, Teignmouth, Torquay and Paignton.

Virgin said they expect about 1,000 families to accept their offer.

Gemma Cartwright, who organised a protest for workers in London, said she was thankful for the opportunity.

Five services

"I am quite excited," she told BBC News 24.

"For the children it will be absolutely brilliant. They will be able to get on and do things and be able to take their minds away, they are out of the situation in Birmingham and can enjoy themselves because at home it has been quite stressful.

"Each week you learn something different... with supply chains collapsing each week we are finding out something new."

More than 2,000 free seats were offered on the five services, which will run from Monday until Friday 3 June.

'Trade unions grateful'

Families will be entertained on their journey by a clown and a team of face painters and they will receive a complimentary snackbox as they travel to and from the seaside.

Virgin CrossCountry managing director Chris Gibb said: "We are delighted to be able to offer these families free trips to the sea at a time when such help may be especially appreciated.

"We have worked closely with the Longbridge trades unions TGWU, GMB and Amicus, Birmingham City Council and Teignbridge District Council in the organisation of the offer.

"We look forward to welcoming as many families as possible on board our trains. All tickets for the trains have now been distributed by the trades union."

An MG Rover Works Committee representative thanked Virgin Trains and the train drivers' union Aslef, adding: "The trades unions are grateful for the generous offer at this difficult time."



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Informationen sind kein Wissen !!!

Caleb Carr
" Die Täuschung "

[Scheini75]

Nicht gerade die Besten News ...

Firm closes after Rover collapse
Nearly 200 jobs will be lost when a Cambridgeshire-based company which made components for MG Rover closes.

Triplex in Walton, Peterborough, had already announced plans for 30 redundancies before the collapse of Rover last month.

The company said it would wind-down production over the next 14 months and close completely in September 2006.

It is thought some staff could be relocated to Triplex factories in Warwickshire and Hereford.

Amicus and GMB union leaders will meet managers this week to discuss the plans.
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Informationen sind kein Wissen !!!

Caleb Carr
" Die Täuschung "

[Scheini75]

Dürfte jetzt alles gewesen sein ...



Rover's billion pound blunder
By Terry Messenger
BBC producer




In the end, MG Rover ran out of cash

Five years ago, four businessmen bought MG Rover and saved the firm from extinction. They were hailed as heroes. But now the firm has collapsed.

And they are widely condemned for greed and failure.

They are the Phoenix Four, so named because they promised that, under their control, Rover would rise from the ashes.

They were left a £1bn dowry by previous owners BMW. It was meant to help them revive the firm but instead they burned through the billion, making gigantic losses year after year.

But they handsomely rewarded themselves - £40m in pension, pay and other benefits.

When the cash ran out last month, over 5,000 Rover workers were thrown on the dole and thousands more jobs were put at risk in dealerships and supplier companies.

The Phoenix Four were condemned by fellow bosses. Sir Digby Jones, director general of the CBI, commented: "I find it appalling that you can supervise failure... and take what everybody seems to be saying is about £40m on the way through."

And they were condemned by former staff. Paintshop worker Gordon Lane declared bitterly: "Those four have got a lot to answer for."

German 'dowry'

In Rover's Billion Pound Blunder, the Money Programme examines the record and the legacy of the four businessmen from the West Midlands who first gained fame and then notoriety as the Phoenix Four: John Towers, Nick Stephenson, Peter Beale and John Edwards.

Mr Towers was welcomed as a hero when he and the three other members of the Phoenix consortium bought MG Rover from BMW in May, 2000.

They paid BMW just £10 - in return they received the £1 billion dowry in cash and assets.


If you're looking at what Towers did for the region, he kept 6,000 people in work for five years at reasonable rates

Professor Chris Brady, Sir John Cass Business School

They put in £60,000 each of their own money to MG Rover and took out loans for further investment, but this amounted to a small fraction of the BMW dowry.

BMW were desperate to shed Rover. They'd invested £3bn in an attempt to make a success of the company, but in their final year, because of their vast investment, the Germans lost £750m.

Rather than close the company and turn Brits against BMW, they were willing to pay the £1bn dowry to the Phoenix Four.

But that billion was never going to be enough to save the company. To survive, motor manufacturers have to constantly develop new models to keep up with changing tastes. And that would cost yet more billions.

Pension payments

The Phoenix Four began their own urgent hunt to find a car company to buy a stake in MG Rover and provide the funds for new models.

They were rebuffed by Malaysian company Proton and Chinese company China Brilliance. They managed a minor collaboration with Indian firm Tata to produce the City Rover but the car was widely panned.

Meanwhile the losses continued to mount - £611m in the first four years. That didn't stop the Phoenix Four setting up a £17m pension fund for themselves.

With pay and other benefits from MG Rover and associated companies, their total reward is thought to be around £40m.


Some former MG Rover workers are unhappy about the firm's demise

In 2004, the firm was getting nearer and nearer to collapse, and again they turned to China for salvation. Talks began with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC).

By November, their accountants were warning them that without the SAIC deal they faced bankruptcy.

SAIC did buy the intellectual property rights for Rover cars worth £67m. Commentators reckoned that's all they ever really wanted and never had any real interest in saving mass car production at MG Rover's Longbridge factory, a claim denied by the Phoenix Four.

But the deal to save the whole company never materialised and in April, SAIC pulled out and MG Rover collapsed.

'Time to diversify'

As for the legacy of the Phoenix Four, led by John Towers, most agree that there were some benefits.

Professor Chris Brady of Sir John Cass Business School told the Money Programme: "If you're looking at what Towers did for the region, he kept 6,000 people in work for five years at reasonable rates. He gave them time for the suppliers in the area to diversify and not to be so reliant on Rover."


If he [John Towers] had delivered a success story, he's entitled to not only what he got, but five times that

Sir Digby Jones, CBI director general

And that's a verdict the Phoenix Four agree with. They're less happy with views expressed about their own personal rewards.

They told the programme in a statement: "We are proud to have sustained car making at Longbridge for well over twice as long as many 'experts' predicted and it was a tragedy that we failed when so near to securing long term success for the company."

Sir Digby Jones, however, has a different view of the Phoenix Four and specifically John Towers. He told the Money Programme: "If he'd delivered a success story, he's entitled to not only what he got, but five times that.

"That's not the issue. The issue is - he supervised not just failure, but very worrying failure, involving thousands of people. And that to me means that he should really be looking at his own conscience."
_________________
Informationen sind kein Wissen !!!

Caleb Carr
" Die Täuschung "

[Scheini75]

Wir waren letzte Woche in der alten Heimat .
Da steht etwas auf einem Bleifenster . was ich etwas abändern möchte .

Original : Im Glauben an Deutschland werden wir die Zukunft meistern .
Erbaut im Olympiajahr 1936 .

Meine Version : Im Glauben an Deutschland , in Liebe an englische Autos , werden wir die Zukunft meistern .
MGR im Jahre 2005 .



Euer Scheini75
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Informationen sind kein Wissen !!!

Caleb Carr
" Die Täuschung "

[pena]

Hallo Scheini75, du bist ja richtig fleißig gewesen. Vielleicht hellt sich Deine Stimmung ein wenig auf: Auf der Internetseite "timesonline.co.uk" von heute ist am Ende eines längeren Artikel aktuell über MGR folgendes zu lesen: "A late bid for MG Rover emerged last night from American-Arabian Investment Holding, a US-based company that hopes to rebuild Rover."
Gruß
pena

[Sterling]

Hi,

die Bietfrist ist bereits vor über 2 Wochen abgelaufen!

Gruss Sterling
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MG ZT CDTi + Rover 75 2,0 V6

[pena]

Hi, wird die Quote deutlich unterschritten sind nach englischen Recht, ähnlich wie in Deutschland, weitere Angebote auch nach der Bietfrist zulässig. Dies liegt im ermessen der Verwalter.
Gruß pena

[(0190)]

hi,

versteh ich das was nicht richtig?

Wie kann es sein, dass die Phoenix Holding Forderungen an MG/Rover hält?
Das sind doch wohl die bekannten Phoenix-four, oder? Wenn dem so ist, dann
kann ich nur vermuten, dass die 4 bewusst die Kiste an die Wand gefahren und sich
gezielt die Taschen gefüllt haben.

Waren da nicht Töne wie "Heuschrecken" in letzter Zeit in aller Munde?

Gruss

scotty

[ChB]

Quote:

On 2005-06-01 22:29, scotty wrote: ... Wie kann es sein, dass die Phoenix Holding Forderungen an MG/Rover hält? Das sind doch wohl die bekannten Phoenix-four, oder? Wenn dem so ist, dann kann ich nur vermuten, dass die 4 bewusst die Kiste an die Wand gefahren und sich gezielt die Taschen gefüllt haben. ...

Die Phoenix Holding ist das Unternehmen, das die vier "Retter" seinerzeit gegründet haben, als sie die MGR-Gruppe von BMW übernahmen.

Wie der Namensteil "Holding" schon sagt, handelt es sich um die Konzernmutter/Eigentümerin von MG Rover Ltd. und den anderen Unternehmen (u.a. Powertrain).

In ihrer Eigenschaft als diese, hat sie den Tochterunternehmen regelmäßig Geld in Form von Krediten zur Verfügung gestellt. Zum Großteil wird Phoenix dafür selbst Kredite aufgenommen haben. Damit hat die Mutter (Phoenix Holding) eine Forderung ggü. der Tochter (MGR). Wenn nun die Tochter insolvent wird, hat selbstverständlich auch die Mutter ihre Forderungen an die Tochter offen zu legen. Wenn es zu einer Bezahlung aller Gläubiger kommen sollte, dann würde aber die Mutter hinten an stehen und müsste sehen, was übrig bleibt.

Insofern ist das alles ganz normal und völlig rechtens.

Gruß aus Berlin,
ChB

MG ZT-T 190 trophy blue [ Diese Nachricht wurde editiert von : ChB on 02-06-2005 12:20 ]
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Gruß aus Berlin,
ChB