MG Rover in happier days

economy - The China battle for MG Rover

New details are emerging in the Sunday Times on the heated battle on the heritage of MG Rover last summer.
While most give only more color to the situation, the relationship between Shanghai-based SAIC and Nanjing Automotive is rather interesting. SAIC did not take the Nanjing bid serious, until the last week before the auction, and then is seemed too late. (Tony Lomas was in charge of the auction.)

Privately, SAIC sources were saying that they did not consider Nanjing’s bid to be serious, and that it might not finally materialise. It was not until the last week of the sale that SAIC finally realised it was about to lose out.

“By the end of July I was satisfied that Nanjing could pay, so I was running for the line with their bid while trying to encourage the others to do more,” said Lomas.

SAIC was never able to make their lower and conditional offer into one that was better than that of Nanjing Automotive. And it was only because of the earlier talks between MG Rover and SAIC Those triggered off the interest in Nanjing and made them pay a higher price than they would have in other circumstances.