John Towers

Who is John Towers?

John Towers CBE is an English businessman, who was the owner and managing director of Rover Group Ltd from 2000 until the company entered administration in 2005. This followed a succession of senior appointments within Rover, which he had joined from Massey Ferguson Tractors in 1988. Towers started his career in 1966 as a student apprentice with Perkins Diesel of Peterborough, which by that time had become a subsidiary of Massey Ferguson. He rose within Perkins to become Director of Engineering before leaving in the late 1980s to join the Rover Group.

Together with Peter Beale, Nick Stephenson and John Edwards, Towers formed the Phoenix Consortium which bought Rover Group for £10 in April 2000. In addition they also bought the Studley Castle, a conference hotel.

They subsequently purchased Midland Powertrain, MG Rover's engine plant from BMW for £20. Finally, for £50 along with an undisclosed sum from the Royal Bank of Scotland, they purchased Rover Capital, a book of Rover car loans.

Kevin Howe was appointed MG Rover's Managing Director in July 2000.