Vickers denies reports of VW offer for Rolls

VICKERS yesterday denied receiving a revised offer for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, its luxury car unit, from Volkswagen after selecting its German rival BMW as the preferred bidder. Vickers said claims that it had received a revised VW bid and was in talks with the company had "no substance".

The statement contradicted comments on Tuesday evening by Graham Morris, Rolls-Royce's chief executive, who told reporters a new VW offer had been tabled. Vickers said this was wrong and gave what it called the "official" version of events.

Vickers said it had entered four weeks of exclusive talks with BMW, selected as preferred bidder on Monday after tabling a pounds 340m offer for Rolls.

"We would like to make clear Vickers has entered into a period of exclusive talks with BMW ... it is not in discussions with any other party. There have been no more new offers," said a Vickers spokesman.

Vickers said the comments were made in an attempt to clear up possible misunderstandings after the comments made by Mr Morris at a reception in Berlin.

Mr Morris' remarks followed a report in the German tabloid Bild, which said VW planned to top its DM1.5bn (pounds 500m) offer by DM200m.