Alchemy pulls out of MG deal

Jon Moulton, head of the venture capital group Alchemy, has pulled out of buying MG, leaving administrators to the collapsed MG Rover group with few prospects of reviving any activity at Longbridge.

The news comes as PricewaterhouseCoopers has three days left to find a buyer for the whole group before breaking it down into asset sales.

So far the Shanghai Automobile Industry Corporation has asked to buy only tooling for the Rover 25, 75, series K and L engines and some R&D equipment. The company previously said it did not want to employ anyone directly in the UK.

SAIC owns the intellectual property rights to the 25, 75 and two engines, which makes it difficult for other bidders to make use of the production equipment that remains at Longbridge.

Moulton said Alchemy has not made a proposal for MG because of problems with intellectual property rights, supplies and warranties.