THE LONDON TIMES: Chandler makes £25m sale: “Sir Colin, while head of defence sales at the Ministry of Defence, negotiated a deal under which Saudi Arabia paid for arms in oil, which BP and Shell sold on behalf of the British suppliers.” (ShellNews.net) 9 April 05   

By Tom Bawden

April 09, 2005

SIR COLIN CHANDLER, the man behind Britain’s biggest arms deal, yesterday agreed the £25 million sale of his armoured vehicle maker to an American defence company.

Sir Colin, who was knighted for negotiating the £20 billion Al-Yamamah oil-for-weapons contract with Saudi Arabia in 1985, is selling Automotive Technik, the British maker of the Pinzgauer range of armoured vehicles being used in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is at present non-executive chairman of easyJet, the airline.

The sale of Automotive — which supplies Pinzgauers to 24 armies around the world — to Stewart & Stevenson Services, the US defence contractor, will make Sir Colin just over £1 million for his stake.

Automotive Technik’s founders, Alan Mawer and David Findlay, a former professional rally driver, will share more than £10 million from the sale, which was managed by Livingstone Guarantee. Meanwhile, Close Brothers’ venture capital trust unit nearly tripled its £3 million investment in the company. The founders will leave the company after the completion of the sale, while Sir Colin and Alan Stanley, the chief executive, will remain in their present roles.

Sir Colin, while head of defence sales at the Ministry of Defence, negotiated a deal under which Saudi Arabia paid for arms in oil, which BP and Shell sold on behalf of the British suppliers.

Automotive Technik bought the rights to make Pinzgauers from Steyr-Daimler-Puch, their creator, in 2000. Before that it acted as that company’s UK agent. About 30,000 Pinzgauers are in use, including 1,000 in the UK.

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