BOSSES at Ipswich engineering company Manganese Bronze were today remaining tight-lipped as speculation about the company's future increased.The company is hoping to sell the its Ipswich plant – but today said no deal had yet been settled.

BOSSES at Ipswich engineering company Manganese Bronze were today remaining tight-lipped as speculation about the company's future increased.

The company is hoping to sell the its Ipswich plant – but today said no deal had yet been settled.

However a senior manager accepted there were delicate negotiations under way and said an announcement could be made in the next few days.

He said that jobs would not be affected by the announcement.

The Evening Star today received calls from worried employees who said they'd been told an agreement to sell the business had been signed over the weekend.

The "For Sale" sign was hung outside the Hadleigh Road foundry in March when the company announced it was to sell or close its loss-making divisions.

A spokesman for Manganese Bronze in its London headquarters said today that many companies had expressed an interest in taking over the Ipswich plant – which makes metal components for industry – but no firm offers had yet been agreed.

He said a final decision on the future of the plant – which was visited by Prime Minister Tony Blair during the 1992 general election campaign – would have to be made by the time the company's annual report was published in September.

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