Optare 'secures future' with Ashok Leyland deal
A North Yorkshire-based bus maker says it has secured its future after shareholders supported a rescue deal by Indian firm Ashok Leyland.
Optare has 400 workers at its recently opened assembly plant at Sherburn-in-Elmet and had said it was unlikely to continue trading without a tie-up.
The Indian bus maker will own 75% of Optare shares after receiving support in a shareholders' vote.
Optare chief executive Jim Sumner said it was a "vote of confidence".
The shareholders' meeting was held at the Sherburn-in-Elmet plant.
The company, which was established in 1985, has an order book worth £59m, including a recent contract to supply 190 of its Solo SR midibuses to Cape Town in South Africa.
Components will be supplied by Optare but assembled in Cape Town.