Struggling van-maker LDV has asked the government for millions of pounds in emergency loan finance to help secure its future.
It wants access to bridging loans to tide it over while it presses ahead with plans for a management buy-out (MBO).
The management buy-out of the firm, currently owned by Russian company GAZ, aims to make it into the first big producer of electric vans in the UK, accoding to reports.
The company is also looking for loan finance from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to finance the MBO. The status of the EIB finance is unclear.
GAZ is controlled by oligarch Oleg Deripaska, a friend of UK Business Secretary Lord Mandelson.
The company is warning the failure of its plans could cost 900 jobs directly and thousands more among dealers and suppliers – amounting to around 6,000 jobs in total.
At the end of last week, Unite labour union leader Tony Woodley sparked feverish speculation that an unnamed UK car plant faced imminent closure due to a liquidity shortfall. It now appears that he was talking about LDV.
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