BMW faces pressure to declare its intentions on Rolls-Royce

THE GERMAN car maker BMW will come under pressure at its annual shareholders' meeting today to clarify whether it plans to top Volkswagen's pounds 430m offer for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars after a day of confusion and conflicting reports.

A BMW management board member, Horst Teltschik, yesterday denied reports the company was considering increasing its pounds 340m bid. "We won't raise our offer. If we don't get Rolls-Royce, there are other alternatives. We could develop our own 9-Series," he said. Another spokesman for BMW later refused to rule out the possibility of a higher offer. "We cannot confirm we will raise our bid, but we are not ruling it out," said Walter Glogauer.

He was responding to a newspaper report that BMW by no means excludes an "improvement" of the offer, although the company's official line has always been that it has no intention of doing so.

Meanwhile the aero-engine company Rolls-Royce PLC, which owns the rights to the Rolls-Royce trademark, said it did not expect to hold any talks with Volkswagen about allowing the transfer of the name, until after shareholders in Rolls' parent company, Vickers, have voted on the rival offers at an extraordinary meeting on 4 June.

Neither the aero-engine company nor VW would comment on reports that a licence fee of between pounds 40m and pounds 100m would be payable for allowing VW the right to use the name.

Rolls-Royce PLC has made no secret of its preference for BMW, with which it already has an aero-engine joint venture. It says a sale to BMW would reunite the Rolls-Royce name.

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