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LDV rescued on the brink by E75m cash injection from US
Page 8
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Birmingham-based van manufacturer LDV has had a tumultuous Neek, but its future now seems secure. Colin Barnett reports.
;TRUGGLING VAN manufacurer LDV has been rescued by in American-owned finance ;roup, in a deal believed to he vorth 05m.
Following a brief period last =riday (16 December) during vhich LDV was technically in .dministration Sun European ook a majority holding in the iirmingham company.
Another equity finance provider, ,ondon-based European Acq uisiion Capital, came forward to take smaller share.
The move follows a week of onllicting reports, with local ewspapers in Birmingham laiming LDV had run into finan cial difficulties with production suspended and suppliers unpaid. However, the company maintained it was merely a routine housekeeping exercise.
Sales of the new Maxus van have been steadily improving, but the first priority for the new management will be to swiftly axe the old Pilot and Convoy ranges and replace them with new minibus and chassis-cab versions of the Maxus sooner than had been planned.
This is likely to result in the loss of 200 of the 1,200-strong workforce at the Washwood Heath plant. While the latest cash injection will accelerate the introduction of the new models, it does little to address LDV's most fundamental problem: building the Maxus at a competitive cost. The entry-level Maxus sells at a price that is within a few hundred pounds of arguably betterdeveloped products from Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and the like. Exports to the Netherlands have been hindered by the vehicle's inability to compete with Fiat's Ducato.
LDV's other export project is a joint deal with Czech firm Avia, as predicted by CM earlier this year. Avia says the secured future of the Maxus is a positive development.