A decade after its collapse, MG Rover still pays creditors
Liquidators still trawling through the remains of collapsed car company MG Rover are continuing to make payments to creditors almost a decade after it went into administration.
The last British-owned mass-market carmaker was bought from BMW by four Midlands businessmen known as the Phoenix Four in 2000 for just £10 but went under in 2005, owing £1.4 billion to creditors and putting more than 6,500 people out of work.
During those five years, John Towers, Peter Beale, Nick Stephenson and John Edwards collected at least £42 million in pay and pensions for themselves and chief executive Kevin Howe.
Gloom: Workers received a pay-off of just £3 each
Towers, Beale, Stephenson and Edwards were later found by an independent report to have rewarded themselves ‘out of all proportion’ to the revenues of the company and were disqualified from being directors for a combined 19 years.
The latest statement from MG Rover’s liquidator PwC reveals that creditors are receiving between 1.5p and 4.5p in the pound. So far £123 million in assets have been realised with £104 million paid out, a fraction of the £1.4 billion owned.
Most of the debt is unlikely to be repaid and the liquidators say they are ‘uncertain’ as to when the winding-up is expected to be complete.
The 6,500 former workers received just £3 each in compensation. The MG brand is now owned by Shanghai Automotive, which last month launched the electric MG Dynamo, while the Rover marque is considered dormant, but is now owned by Ford.