Efforts Underway to Save MG/Rover from Bankruptcy

Voice of America
April 11, 2005

Frantic efforts are underway to save Britain's last independent carmaker from bankruptcy and collapse.

Britain's government has given the stricken MG/Rover company a nearly $12 million loan (6.5 million pounds) to pay the company's workers for one week.

Rover took legal steps toward bankruptcy last Friday after a proposed partnership with China's Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation fell through when the company discovered the depth of Rover's financial problems.

Monday, administrators appointed to run the ailing British company said it was loosing tens of millions of dollars a month.

Nevertheless, British government officials said they would try to revive talks with the Chinese firm and take other steps they hope might save the company.

Six-thousand jobs are at stake at Rover, and even more jobs with the car company's suppliers.

Some information for this report provided by Reuters, AFP, and AP.