Bus maker goes bust
Design Line succumbs to creditors after months of pressure.
Creditors of Rolleston-based bus-maker Design Line were successful in placing the company into liquidation today.
Two creditors – Lyasight and ENI Engineering –advertised the liquidation petitions. The company had obtained several delays to allow it time to find purchasers but to no avail. The overall debt is estimated as around $10 million.
The company makes buses that are used in many countries. It employs about 500 people.
Design Line was set up in 1985 by Ashburton entrepreneur John Turton who subsequently sold a majority shareholding US investors, father and son Buster and Brad Glosson in 2006. They moved the headquarters to North Carolina began building a factory there with capacity to manufacture 300 buses. A few months ago they announced further expansion plans for a plant in United Arab Emirates and enlarging the workforce at Rolleston where 80 people work.
The US operations are unaffected by the demise of the local manufacturer, suggesting that the overseas parent was unprepared to prop up the Rolleston plant.
Last December the company announced a refinancing deal but the company was unable to satisfy creditors such as glass window company Lysaght, based in Ashburton. It has settled with various other creditors.
The company underwent a management shakeup in recent months. Inquiries to the firm are being directed to a former managing director, Jack Schroeder, who appears to have retaken the reins at Design Line, replacing Andrew Green who was appointed in 2010. He was formerly chief executive officer of Gough Gough and Hamer.
Negotiations to sell the firm to a Malaysian operator are likely to continue under the liquidator.
Chris Hutching
Tue, 31 May 2011
Tue, 31 May 2011
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Bus maker goes bust
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