Stanley puts own cash into Tanfield

Jul 9 2008 by Graeme King, The Journal

THE founder and chairman of electric vehicle manufacturer Tanfield Group has invested just under £500,000 of his own money on acquiring eight million shares in the troubled company.

Just yesterday, Roy Stanley was reported to have returned to the helm of Tanfield Group in Washington, after the business’s share price plunged to just 5p at the end of last week.

Then last night, Tanfield announced that Mr Stanley, who is also chairman of Business Link North East, had bought more than eight million shares in the business, with 4,420,000 at 5.6p and a further 3,700,000 ordinary shares at 6.69p.

The deals mean the chairman now holds 27,769,292 ordinary shares in the company, meaning he has a 7.5% stake.

Meanwhile the bus building company headed by Mr Stanley appears to have suffered from the troubles of Tanfield Group.

Darwen Holdings, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, has seen its share price fall by nearly half in the last two weeks, and is now trading at just 27p.

That descent has obliged Darwen to cut the cost of its latest round of fundraising by 25%.

The company had been planning to raise £16m through placing new shares priced at 40p each.

But now the business will instead make shares available at 30p each, and expand the number available from 40 million to 53.3 million.

The fundraising is intended to fund Darwen’s purchase of another busbuilder, Optare.

Chief Executive Andrew Brian said: “The current capital market climate is extraordinary, and we are keen to ensure a strong long-term partnership with our investors, so we are revising the terms of the Placing in response to recent conditions.”