Has Freescale’s Scottish plant been sold?

Freescale UK who owns the plant outside Edinburgh said that they are still looking for potential buyers. The press reported that two possible buyers have shown interest in the plant – Carnegie College and the Scarborough Muir Group. However, the Dunfermline South councillor Mike Rumney, announced that the facility – which has never been used – has already been sold to an undisclosed buyer. “They are very reluctant to name their buyer,” he said to the Dunfermline Press. “All that we’ve been told is that it went to the preferred bidder.” The factory was built by Hyundai in 1999 to produce microchips. However, the facility was sold in 2000 to Motorola. In 2004 it went over to Freescale, a subsidiary of Motorola. Neither of the companies ever started production in the facility. Any new buyer will have to invest heavily as the facility was purpose-built for the production of microchips. A spokeswoman for Freescale reiterated comments by the company, saying, “It hasn’t been sold but bidding is confidential.”