Bosses at sports car specialists Prodrive are remaining tight-lipped over reports that it is on the brink of buying prestige brand Aston Martin.
The Banbury-based firm is thought to have lodged a bid of up to £500m for the iconic manufacturer which is being sold by Ford.
But spokesman Ben Sayer said: "I can't make any comment at all."
However, industry sources believe the deal will go through early next week with Ford keen to reduce its losses of £6.6bn.
Prodrive, based off Junction 11 of the M40, is headed by its founder David Richards who is understood to have been backed in his bid by a consortium of business interests from America and the Middle East.
The company runs Aston Martin's works racing team and builds the high performance DBR9 model.
Aston Martin, famed for being the choice of cinematic superspy James Bond, had a plant near Bloxham until it relocated to a new factory at Gaydon in Warwickshire in 2003.
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