MG Rover: Phoenix Four's £20m pay packet

Jul 7 2009 Exclusive by Jon Griffin

JOHN Towers and the other members of the Phoenix Four were paid an average of over £1 million a year each in salaries and pension benefits over their near five-year reign at the helm of Longbridge.

The detailed remuneration packages for chairman Mr Towers, vice-chairman Peter Beale and co-directors Nick Stephenson and John Edwards were revealed today for the first time in a dossier on the collapse of MG Rover.

The dossier, drawn up by public relations firm Media House International, discloses that the Phoenix Four earned average salaries and bonuses of £430,000 a year, with annual company pension contributions of £730,000 each on top.

PR advisers hired by the Phoenix Four to draw up the report say the salaries reflected the senior roles and responsibilities of the four Longbridge executives.

A Phoenix Venture Holdings spokesman said today: “These packages were unexceptional in the industry and in companies of that size.”