Word: belfast
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...wiser. In the beginning, De Lorean made them all believers. The British government, which was looking for ways to provide jobs for desperately unemployed workers in Northern Ireland, poured $156 million in grants, loans and equity capital into the deal. In return, De Lorean built a factory near Belfast that at one time employed 2,600 workers...
...like the Detroit executive he used to be. De Lorean dabbled in a slew of other businesses, from snowmobiles to buses, and left a trail of corporations registered in Nevada and Michigan. In time, he seemed to lose interest in running the automobile business, and was seldom seen in Belfast. One Wall Streeter who observed the goings-on at De Lorean's company summed things up: "I don't think the company ever got managed at all. Everything happened so fast...
...clear that De Lorean's dream was stalling, and probably dying. More than 4,000 cars were unsold, and by February the factory was in receivership. In London, angry Members of Parliament were describing the project as a "rip off." Even then De Lorean was saying that the Belfast plant would need $70 million in new capital. The British government balked...
...empty field before. The Conservatives vowed to investigate. There seems to be plenty to dig into. Reports began surfacing, all unconfirmed, that De Lorean had diverted some of the British money into a Swiss bank account or into his own separate businesses. There were even rumors, disbelieved in Belfast, that some of the money had found its way to the Irish Republican Army as protection payoffs for the 70-acre plant site...
...When the Belfast operation was finally shut down, it left 350 unsecured creditors who were owed $60 million and might end up with nothing. An additional $120 million is owed to other creditors, including the British government. Renault, which made the De Lorean engine, is the biggest single commercial creditor; it is owed $17 million...