Nanjing signs deal to lease MG Rover plant

Nanjing Automobile Corporation yesterday signed a deal worth at least £60m to lease 40 hectares (100 acres) of the former MG Rover car plant at Longbridge for the next 33 years but with a break clause which will allow the Chinese carmaker to walk away within the next six months if it cannot come up with a viable long-term plan for the site.
Nanjing bought the assets of MG Rover from the administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers for £50m last year. The company said it was hoping to restart car production at Longbridge next year, beginning with MG's TF sports car, which would create between 600 and 1,000 jobs.