NEWS
The future of Wrights Group — the last UK-owned bus manufacturer and the second largest in the country — hung in the balance as we closed for press on 7 October, 12 days after the family-owned company was placed in administration and around 1,200 of its employees were made redundant, leaving just 50 working for Deloitte administrators.
The company, founded in 1946 in Ballymena, Co. Antrim where it remained based, had effectively been up for sale since July when it disclosed that it was seeking an investor to overcome a serious cash flow problem.
As late as 19 September it issued a statement to its employees saying that it had ‘hopefully good news for everyone’ that it was ‘in a race to complete a final deal with credible bidders’, that employment contracts would be transferred to the new owner on existing conditions and that the new owner would take over all business operations.
By then, three potential bidders had reduced to one, reported to be the Chineseowned Weichai driveline manufacturer, which also part-owns Australian-founded Far East bus builder BCI.
Others in the frame at a late stage were Northern Ireland businessman Darren Donnelly, former owner of the SDC trailer manufacturing company, …
