 Weir Pumps is to close its Cathcart site in two years. |
Engineering firm Clyde Blowers has confirmed it is in talks about buying Weir Pumps after the sale of the pump business to a Swiss company collapsed. Weir Group had been in negotiations to sell its pumps division in Cathcart, Glasgow, to Sulzer in a �48m deal.
Weir said it was considering other options for the business.
Following the collapse of the Swiss deal, Clyde Blowers issued a statement saying talks had been held over its possible acquisition of Weir Pumps.
Many of the Weir Pumps staff had been expecting to be made redundant within the next two years.
Weir pumps manufactures custom-engineered pumps and 596 staff would have transferred to Sulzer under the deal.
'Operational redundancies'
The Weir Group has warned of "significant operational redundancies" in the run up to closing the factory in 2009.
The Glasgow site has been sold for redevelopment and the new group would need to relocate.
Clyde Blowers chairman and chief executive Jim McColl said: "I have had a conversation with [Weir] chairman Robert Smith, as a result of which we are now in discussions with Weir Group.
"These discussions are confidential and I can go into no more detail at present."
Labour Cathcart MSP Charlie Gordon was a fierce critic of the proposed sale to Sulzer.
Mr Gordon called on Weir Group to pursue an option which retained jobs in the Pumps Division.
He said: "I am sure other stakeholders like Weir Pumps' workforce, Glasgow City Council, Scottish Enterprise and indeed, First Minister Jack McConnell, stand ready to help Weir Group develop an option which gives a secure future to Weir Pumps, a profitable undertaking with a 130-year history of world-class Scottish Engineering skills."
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