The Guardian - 30.07.2019

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:29 Edition Date:190730 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 29/7/2019 20:19 cYanmaGentaYellowb

Tuesday 30 July 2019 The Guardian •

Financial^29

Ellesmere

Port fears

becoming

a ‘ghost

town’ if car

plant shuts

Josh Halliday

North of England correspondent

Local politicians have said there will

be catastrophic job losses if Vauxhall

carries out its threat of ending produc-

tion at its Ellesmere Port factory should

Brexit make the site unprofi table.

Justin Madders , Labour MP for

Ellesmere Port and Neston, said the

car maker’s comments w ere a direct

reaction to the new prime minister,

Boris Johnson, “stuffi ng his cabinet

with people who are committed to a

no-deal Brexit”.

Madders said yesterday: “The chal-

lenge is for the new government to

explain what they’re going to do to

avoid catastrophic-level job losses in

my part of the world. If it shut I think

that would shatter a lot of confi dence

and morale in the area.”

On Sunday PSA, the French car-

maker that owns Vauxhall, made

explicit its pledge to pull all produc-

tion from the Ellesmere Port plant in

Cheshire and switch to a site in main-

land Europe if Brexit renders the

factory unprofi table. Its chief exec-

utive, Carlos Tavares , said the business

had lined up an alternative location

in southern Europe to build Vauxhall

Astra and Opel Astra cars if the UK did

presence in the UK to its van plant in

Luton, which employs just over 1,000

workers.

Karen Shore, the deputy leader of

Cheshire West and Chester council,

said the area was braced for the worst:

“A year ago we thought we would sur-

vive it but now – when you think about

the domino impact it would have on

thousands of jobs across the sub-

region – it’s really devastating for us.

“Its in the hearts and minds of the

people that plant and it’s part of the

fabric of the town. I do believe that it

would set us into decline and we would

have to fi ght to get out of that. ”

The self-styled “Home of the Astra”,

which opened in 1964, is the most

heavily exposed of the UK’s car plants:

80% of its production is exported to

Europe and about 75% of its comp-

onents are imported.

The gates of the 400-acre site were

locked shut yesterday, its vast bays

empty and roads around the factory

deserted during its annual two-week

summer shutdown. A huge billboard,

cast in union jack colours, advertised

the plant with a picture of the Astra

and the words: “True Brit.”

John Cooper, the senior shop stew-

ard for the Unite trade union at the

plant, said most of the factory workers

were on holiday but that everyone was

concerned by Tavare s’s announce-

ment. “It’s just going to be the death

knell of Ellesmere Port car plant as

PSA see it,” he said. “But as Unite see

it we will be fi ghting tooth and nail. My

members stand ready to fi ght back and

do whatever is necessary to make sure

▲ John Nicholas, 83, who worked as

a forklift truck driver at Vauxhall’s

Ellesmere Port plant for 23 years

PHOTOGRAPH: CHRISTOPHER THOMOND/GUARDIAN

Barclays and RBS

sued in test case

over currency

market rigging

Bidding war delivers a feast

for Just Eat’s shareholders

Julia Kollewe

The prospect of a multi billion-pound

bidding war for Just Eat sent shares

in the FTSE 100 online food deliv-

ery company surging by more than a

fi fth yesterday. Just Eat agreed terms

with its Dutch rival Takeaway.com in

a deal that would create one of the

world’s biggest online food delivery

companies.

The £9bn combination valued

Just Eat shares at 731p and the UK

company’s share capital at £5bn. Spec-

ulation about a rival bidder pushed

Just Eat shares comfortably above the

off er terms, to 780p by close of trading.

Under the terms of the agreement,

Just Eat shareholders would own

52.2% of the combined group. It would

be based in Amsterdam and listed on

the London Stock Exchange, with a

“signifi cant part of its operations” in

the UK.

While some analysts foresaw a

counterbid, possibly from Berlin-

based rival Delivery Hero or the South

African internet and media company

Naspers, experts at Jeff eries predicted

bids from outside the industry, for

example from Japan’s SoftBank, Ama-

zon or private equity.

There have been a fl urry of deals in

the food delivery market , with com-

petition heating up from Uber Eats and

Deliveroo. Just Eat bought the UK fi rm

HungryHouse in January 2018, and in

that volume car building continues at

Ellesmere Port.”

Twice in the past decade the plant,

which sits across the Mersey from John

Lennon airport, Liverpool, has looked

almost certain to close before being

saved at the last minute. Its workers,

and those who live in Ellesmere Port,

have grown used to the uncertainty.

Last month there were positive

signs as PSA announced that the new

Astra would be built in Ellesmere Port,

subject to the UK’s fi nal Brexit deal

and an agreement with Unite. How-

ever, Tavare s’s comments indicated

the company was making contingency

plans for a poorly received Brexit deal

or leaving the EU on 31 October with

no agreement in place.

The mood was no more upbeat

at the town’s Port Arcades , where a

Vauxhall-branded clock looks down

on shoppers. “Once Vauxhall closes,

Ellesmere Port won’t exist – it would be

a ghost town,” said John Nicholas, 83,

who worked as a forklift truck driver

at the factory for 23 years. “I never

thought it could close down but now

it’s a big concern.”

Aidan Davies, 49, has made a living

selling cars to Vauxhall workers and

others in the town for 20 years. The

plant’s closure would cause “massive

devastation” to an already struggling

town centre, he said. “Business is very

up and down. The footfall through the

town has fell, the council have put the

rents up. It’s obviously going to have

a knock-on eff ect.”

20 miles

20 km

Chester

Ellesmere

Port

Liverpool

Manchester

Wales

England

Vauxhall Motors

The plant employs more

than 1,000 workers

Irish Sea

The

Wirral

Sean Farrell

Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and

three other banks are being sued by

investors for at least £1bn over rigging

of the foreign exchange market in a

UK test case for US-style class actions.

A US law fi rm that specialises in

stock market litigation has fi led the

claim at the Competition Appeal

Tribunal. The claim also targets the

US investment banks JP Morgan and

Citigroup, and Switzerland’s UBS.

The legal action follows the Euro-

pean commission’s decision in May to

fi ne fi ve banks more than €1bn (£910m)

for colluding to reduce competition in

markets for 11 currencies, including

the US dollar, the euro and the pound.

Cartels of traders with names such

as the “Three-Way Banana Split”

operated on chatrooms to rig the

multi trillion-dollar foreign exchange

market. UBS, which informed the com-

mission about the collusion, was not

fi ned but Japan’s MUFG received a

penalty.

Scott  + Scott, representing the

investors, said Barclays, RBS, JP Mor-

gan, Citi and UBS had been fi ned more

than $8.5bn by regulators globally over

foreign exchange manipulation. The

law fi rm has already secured more

than $2.3bn compensation from banks

including Barclays, RBS, UBS and

Deutsche Bank in a US class action suit.

The claim, led by Michael O’Higgins ,

the former chair of the Pensions Regu-

lator, seeks compensation for investors

and companies allegedly damaged by

the market rigging.

O’Higgins said: “Just as compensa-

tion has been won in the US, our legal

action in the UK will seek to return

hundreds of millions of pounds to pen-

sion funds and other corporates who

were targeted by the cartel.”

not achieve a satisfactory outcome

when leaving the EU. “I would prefer to

put it [the Astra ] in Ellesmere Port but

if the conditions are bad and I cannot

make it profi table, then I have to pro-

tect the rest of the company and I will

not do it,” he told the Financial Times.

Pulling the Astra would probably

lead to the closure of the plant , which

employs more than 1,000 workers,

and would reduce the company’s

‘The domino impact

on thousands of jobs

in the region would

be devastating’

Karen Shore Cheshire

West and Chester council

December Takeaway.com acquired

Delivery Hero’s German business.

A bid from Uber Eats or Deliveroo

would raise competition issues, and

this could also aff ect Amazon. After it

became the lead investor in a $757m

(£ 620m) fi nancing round in Deliveroo

in May, Amazon was ordered by the

Competition and Markets Authority

to halt any integration eff orts pend-

ing an investigation.

Combined, Take away.com and Just

Eat had 360m orders worth €7.3bn

(£6.6bn) in 2018 and strong positions in

the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and

Canada. Takeaway.com was founded

in 2000 and operates in 10 European

countries, as well as Israel and Viet-

nam, but has no presence in the UK.

Just Eat has come under pressure

from its activist shareholder Cat Rock

Capital to merge with Takeaway.com.

Cat Rock welcomed the proposed

deal. Its founder , Alex Captain, said:

“The proposed transaction is excel-

lent news for Just Eat shareholders.

The combined company would be an

exceptionally high-quality business

with formidable market positions in

major countries, fantastic growth pros-

pects, and world-class management.”

Just Eat’s revenues are expected to

top £1bn this year.

▲ The deal with Takeaway.com would

create one of the largest delivery fi rms

£1bn

The minimum amount sought by

investors in a UK class action over

foreign exchange manipulations

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