Jaguar Land Rover gets loan guarantee after cyberattack

LONDON

The British government agreed a loan guarantee worth 1.5 billion pounds ($2 billion) for Jaguar Land Rover to shore up its cash reserves and supply chain, the Trade Minister said yesterday, after a damaging recent cyberattack.

JLR said on Sept. 2 that it had been targeted by hackers, forcing it to suspend production at its U.K. factories.

The automaker said last week that its IT systems were partly back online as part of a "phased restart", but production would remain on pause until at least Oct. 1.

The government announced that it would back the company with a loan guarantee "expected to unlock up to 1.5 billion pounds to give certainty to its supply chain."

The move does not mean that the government will lend money directly to JLR, which is owned by India's Tata Motors.

Instead, a government credit agency will provide the guarantee for a loan from a commercial bank that will be repaid over five years.

Trade minister Peter Kyle said the guarantee "will help support the supply chain and protect skilled jobs in the West Midlands, Merseyside and throughout the U.K."

"This cyberattack was not only an assault on an iconic British brand, but on our world-leading automotive sector and the men and women whose livelihoods depend on it," he said.

JLR has said its partial systems restart was helping to clear a backlog of payments to its suppliers, after unions warned that some were at risk of collapse due to the disruption.