Indian conglomerate Tatas have secured "last minute funding" for Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) as the bankers were convinced that the UK government will prevent a collapse of the luxury car maker, says a media report.
Attributing to senior Whitehall figures, The Times has reported that Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Chancellor Alistair Darling had already privately agreed that short-term assistance was almost certainly necessary.
"Tata found the cash because its banks were convinced that the government would prevent a collapse," the daily said quoting a source and added that officials had been working on the details of the package over the weekend.
The report published online today noted that "a planned government bailout worth tens of millions of pounds to keep JLR afloat has helped the company's owners to secure last-minute funding".
"Gordon Brown had decided to intervene to prevent the collapse of the carmaker and was preparing to announce a short-term bailout package today or tomorrow.
"But a combination of tough rhetoric in public and private reassurance appears to have helped the Tata Group to secure enough cash to postpone the bailout until after Christmas," the daily noted.
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According to the report, the Tatas told ministers that it was facing a cashflow crisis and needed help to pay suppliers.
"It said that it feared that it might not be able to pay several significant bills falling due today," The Times reported.
Meanwhile, the Financial Times has reported that Tatas has agreed to inject "tens of millions" of pounds into JLR to prevent an immediate cash flow crisis.