Help on the way for Dutch DAF
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Your support makes all the difference.THE Belgian and Dutch authorities are believed to have hammered out a rescue plan for DAF to create a slimmed-down version of the ailing van and truck maker.
It was not clear how the deal would affect the UK group, Leyland DAF, which will not be part of New DAF. But the rescue will increase pressure in Britain for help from the Government to save plants and jobs.
The Belgian authorities are understood to have agreed to invest 55m guilders ( pounds 21.3m) in New DAF, which was formed in the aftermath of the group's collapse two weeks ago, in return for a 12 per cent stake. This sum would be in addition to 200m guilders said to be offered by the Dutch government.
British government ministers have ruled out financial aid for Leyland DAF. Pressure has mounted since Arthur Andersen, the receiver to the UK operations, announced last week that 1,600 of the company's 5,500 staff would be made redundant.
Arthur Andersen yesterday attended a meeting of banks and receivers to New DAF, but declined to say whether any agreement between the two governments and the banks had been concluded.
The UK receivers are keen to see a production and marketing relationship continue between Leyland DAF's truck operation in Lancashire and New DAF, to help to attract buyers. A spokesman for DAF dismissed the reports of a rescue package as speculation.
The UK receivers are separately waiting for proposals from management who hope to stage a buyout at the Birmingham van site. The team is lead by Allan Amey, managing director at Birmingham, and is being advised by the accountants Coopers & Lybrand. Discussions also continue with Renault, which has a joint venture for the development of new vans with Leyland DAF.
Arthur Andersen was thwarted again in attempts to restart production yesterday at the company's Leyland truck plant. About two dozen suppliers are refusing to resume deliveries in spite of assurances that they will be paid.
A spokesman for Arthur Andersen said that a return to production was critical if a buyer was to be found for the company. Although production began yesterday at the Birmingham van plant, he said that the threat to supplies remained and that production might again be stopped.
The spokesman would not say which suppliers are causing the problem. 'We are continuing to apply pressure to those companies,' he said.
Reports are now circulating in Belgium that a South African company, Associated Automotive Distributors, is interested in buying parts of the DAF organisation.
AAB, based in Johannesburg, was originally formed by a management buyout at the former British Leyland in South Africa and was subsequently owned for a time by DAF. The South African company is understood to have been planning to launch a range of DAF products in its domestic market later this year.
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