The deadline for the sale of Siemens’ chip-manufacturing plant in North Tyneside, UK has passed, which means, in theory at least, that the German industrial giant owes the UK government 50m pounds in grant money. Siemens has been searching for a buyer for the memory chip fab since it shut down last August. The deadline for the sale of the plant had been January 31. However, despite rumors of a Chinese consortium looking to buy the plant (CI No 3,553) or a management buy-out, no potential purchaser has yet stepped forward. Sources close to Siemens suggest that possible management buy-out talks have hit troubled waters and that Siemens is still arguing over the stake that it will retain in the plant. However, Martin Sheehan, a spokesperson for the UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said that the department would not be looking for its money back just yet. Sheehan said that the government was hopeful that a buyer could still be found. Sheehan denied that the drive to find a buyer for the facility had been diminished by the resignation of former DTI head Peter Mandelson, whose home constituency is the North Tyneside and who vowed to find a buyer for the plant. Sheehan denied that this was the case saying that the hunt was still being driven forward with the same vigor and that Mandelson was still being kept informed of developments.
