Giants of the motoring world, Germany's Daimler and Britain's Rolls-Royce, will make an offer for Tognum worth £2.7bn.

It is to be a joint venture where each company would have a 50:50 stake in Tognum engineering.

Both companies have stated they plan to maintain Tognum's manufacturing plants which should protect jobs.

Daimler, who own Mercdes-Benz, also own a 28 per cent stake in Tognum already.