Land Rover is finalising a settlement with receivers KPMG that will see it taking effective control of the collapsed components supplier UPF-Thompson.

The deal, in the region of £15m-£16m, follows a bitter legal dispute with KPMG that threatened production of the Discovery at Land Rover's Solihull plant. The carmaker had rejected demands from KPMG for a payment of either £62m to help UPF continue trading or to buy it outright for £51.6m.

Land Rover is now expected to assume up to £16m of UPF's estimated £50m debt in return for guaranteed chassis supplies. This will safeguard production of the Discovery and around 1,400 assembly jobs.