Workers at struggling British carmaker MG Rover are hoping for a British government decision later today on whether to extend a lifeline loan to the firm and delay mass redundancies.
An MG Rover spokesman and unions representing the company's 6,000-strong workforce said they hoped the UK government would make a decision ahead of the weekend.
The carmaker filed for bankruptcy last week and the government lent it £6.5 million ($12.2 million) to cover operating losses for a week and delay politically embarrassing layoffs just weeks before a general election.
"We are hoping to hear from the DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) today. We have had no decision so far," a spokesman for the Transport and General Workers Union said.
The Department of Trade and Industry said today talks over the future of MG Rover were continuing but declined to say when a decision on a possible loan extension would be announced.
MG Rover collapsed after failing to secure an alliance with China's biggest auto maker, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. (SAIC). Sources said this week the Chinese firm was no longer interested in resurrecting talks.
However, Automotive News Europe, which initially broke news that MG Rover was in talks with SAIC, reported that SAIC was expected to swoop on the firm's assets if it collapsed.
"By forcing the British automaker into bankruptcy, SAIC could get just what it wanted all along - MG Rover's assets without its liabilities," Automotive Newssaid in a summary of a report due for publication on Monday.