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David Gage (Davidg)
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 19, 2002 - 05:11 pm: | 
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Yup, you heard it here first...
UPF deal secures Discovery output
By Christine Buckley, Industrial Editor
LAND ROVER has taken temporary control of UPF Thompson, its chassis supplier which went into receivership in December, to avoid disruption to the production of its Discovery 4x4 vehicles.
The move brings to an end a tense standoff between Land Rover and KPMG, the UPF receiver. KPMG had wanted Ford, the owner of Land Rover, to take on £46 million of debt at UPF, to guarantee supplies.
UPF, which employs 550 people in Wolverhampton, Walsall and Congleton, is the sole supplier of the chassis for Discovery vehicles. Land Rover, which accused KPMG of making “unreasonable and extraordinary demands”, said that the dispute also put at risk the jobs of more than 11,000 people working on the production of the Discovery.
Ford has agreed to assume an unspecified amount of UPF’s debts, believed to be less than half the £46 million demanded by KPMG, giving it temporary control of the business. It has replaced KPMG with Grant Thornton to identify a buyer for UPF. |
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