11:35 am, June 24, 2021
One of Jaguar Land Rover’s biggest suppliers is locked in emergency talks with a lender in a bid to stave off the threat of administration.
Liberty Aluminium Technologies is hoping to strike a last minute deal with Close Brothers to avert the need for administrators, Sky News reports.
The firm supplies precision parts to automotive clients including JLR – who are the company’s biggest customer.
There have even been some suggestions that JLR may step in to buy the stricken company from businessman Sanjeev Gupta.
The metal firm currently employs around 250 people across three sites.
Sources close to the talks have said that the firm could be forced into insolvency proceedings as soon as this week.
However, bosses remain hopeful of striking a deal.
Close Brothers has appointed Interpath Advisory – the former restructuring arm of KPMG – to advise it on options for its exposure to LAT.
The news comes after the company was put up for sale last month.
In April, Gupta promised that none of his steel plants would close.
He previously held talks over a refinancing of debts owed to Greensill Capital, the lender which collapsed this year.
Since then, the Serious Fraud Office has launched a probe into LAT’s parent company, the Gupta Family Group Alliance.
The SFO is looking into suspected fraud, fraudulent trading and money laundering in relation to the financing and conduct of the business of companies within the group.
GFG has pledge to cooperate fully with the SFO’s investigation.
Picture: PA Images
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