Britain pledges $2 billion loan guarantee for Jaguar Land Rover

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain will back Jaguar Land Rover with a 1.5 billion pound ($2 billion) loan guarantee to help support its supply chain in the wake of the luxury carmaker's production shutdown following a cyberattack.

Jaguar Land Rover's shutdown has lasted nearly a month, and the government had been exploring options to support the company and its supply chain, with some small suppliers saying they had one week left at most before they ran out of cash.

The carmaker, which is owned by India's Tata Motors, has three factories that together produce about 1,000 cars per day, and sustain many jobs in the area around Birmingham, Britain's second biggest city, and the northern city of Liverpool. A survey on Friday showed that some firms were reducing staff hours or making redundancies.

Business minister Peter Kyle said the cyberattack was "not only an assault on an iconic British brand, but on our world-leading automotive sector."

"This loan guarantee will help support the supply chain and protect skilled jobs," he said.

The business ministry said the loan would be privately financed and guaranteed by Britain's export credit agency UK Export Finance, and was expected to unlock 1.5 billion pounds of support for the carmaker's supply chain.

($1 = 0.7463 pounds)

(Reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )