MG Rover bill £5m and rising

The five firms engaged to advise on aspects of stricken carmaker MG Rover’s collapse and sale have already earned at least £5m, with the figure expected to rise considerably.

The Rover collapse has provided much work for accountants, according to figures obtained by Accountancy Age, with the Big Four each involved in advising various parties, and mid-tier firm BDO Stoy Hayward working for the DTI as the official investigator.

The DTI said this week, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, that Gervase MacGregor, the BDO partner working as the investigator, and his firm had earned £1,090,890 in fees, disbursements and VAT between the 31 May and 31 August – more than £10,000 a day.

The DTI also disclosed KPMG’s fees in relation to the carmaker. The firm was paid £340,325 for its work.

PricewaterhouseCoopers said in June that it had earned £4m as administrators for Rover, a figure that is certain to have risen.

A spokeswoman for the firm declined to give any breakdown of the fees since, saying its work with Rover’s creditors was ‘ongoing’.

Ernst & Young advised Shanghai Automotive, and has not disclosed how much it was paid for the work.

Deloitte, MG Rover’s former auditors, is facing investigation by disciplinary body the AIDB over its audit work on Rover. It earned an annual audit fee of about £300,000.