A historic Birmingham automotive company set to benefit from the new Jaguar Land Rover manufacturing plant near Wolverhampton has secured £3 million in new funding.
Lander Automotive has signed a deal for £2 million medium-term finance with Barclays and £1.06 million in loan and grant funding through the Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative.
These funds will enable the company to invest in state-of-the-art production lines and tooling to supply products for JLR's new range of engines which will be produced on the i54 site.
Lander Automotive was originally formed in 1877 as a manufacturer of wire goods such as baskets and bedsteads.
It grew steadily for more than 60 years before starting to supply the growing UK automotive industry in the 1950s which soon became its core market.
The bending and welding technology used on wire was later applied to tubular products and, by 1991, the business had outgrown its inner city premises and relocated to a new, purpose-built factory in Woodgate Valley.
Lander, which is still managed today by descendants of the founder, now supplies a range of structural and fluid carrying tubular assemblies for car manufacturers across Europe.
Managing director Nick Houghton said: "We are pleased to see the banking industry working alongside our local authority to help fund our new programs which will help secure employment in the region over a number a years."
Nigel Bailey, relationship director at Barclays, added: "Barclays is pleased to build on our long standing business relationship with Lander Automotive to provide expansion finance at a time where new work programs do, as welcome as they are, place upfront investment costs on the supply chain.
"We are pleased to have worked alongside Finance Birmingham to provide a rounded finance package to help Lander Automotive expand their relationship with Jaguar Land Rover."
