BMW, the German carmaker, has agreed to sell the Rover brand to Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC), completing the Chinese carmaker's cut-price takeover of the failed British name.
SAIC has agreed to pay just over £11 million (€16 million) for the name, according to people close to the transaction.
Together with the £67 million it paid for the design rights for several Rover cars, the deal gives SAIC everything it wanted at a fraction of the cost it was discussing with MG Rover before the Birmingham carmaker collapsed in April 2000 with the loss of 6,000 jobs.
The deal will pitch the MG and Rover names into competition for the first time in nearly 40 years, with the marques clashing.
The MG badge was sold, together with rights to the almost-identical MG range of cars and the factory in Birmingham, by administrators for £53 million to China's Nanjing Automotive.
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