The owner of Smith Electric Vehicles, Tanfield, has received an offer from Smith Electric Vehicles US Inc ("SEVUS") for its electric vehicle division for £37 million in cash.

Tanfield received the offer from SEVUS to specifically acquire the UK Smith Electric Vehicle division, the 49% shareholding in SEVUS owned by Tanfield; and the license agreement by and between Tanfield and SEVUS, and the intellectual property necessary for the operation of the Smith Electric Vehicle Division on a global unrestricted basis.

Any sale would be conditional inter-alia upon negotiation of sale and purchase documentation, a financing by SEVUS, all usual shareholder approvals (including the approval of Tanfield shareholders) and due diligence.

Tanfield has granted SEVUS a four-month period of exclusivity for the clarification and negotiation of this offer.

Tanfield expects to issue its results for the year ended December 2009 during April. In its interim results for the half-year ended June 30, 2009, Tanfield made a loss of £11m to that date, furthermore it indicated that no improvement in trading conditions was expected in the second half of 2009 and that the second half of the year would be similar to the first.