With a potential bail-out of the UK automotive industry on the cards, Simon Lloyd, director at DTZ has spoken out in favour of a government sale and leaseback scheme.
He said such a scheme could be a potential solution to free-up equity.
‘As the automotive sector finds itself under increasing pressure in the current economic climate it will have to carefully assess the assets it holds along with all ongoing expenditure,’ he said.
He added: ‘As many of these car firms are struggling with their financing and in particular re-financing, they should be looking to explore the opportunity of raising equity from their property assets. One potential option could be a government sale and leaseback scheme, whereby the Government buys the ownership of the leases of these properties, whilst leasing them back to the car manufacturers on long term leases.
‘The government will be able to support the industry and provide car manufacturers with much needed equity, whilst hopefully ensuring a long-term source of revenue. The government and these manufacturers must look to make use of all their available resources in this difficult environment,’ he said.
The government is currently dealing with requests for bridging loans and guarantees to support manufacturers’ financing arms on a company-by-company basis.
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