John Towers (businessman) Nick Stephenson and John Edwards, Towers formed Phoenix Venture Holdings (PVH) which bought Rover Group for £10 in April 2000. In addition they also bought the Studley Castle, a conference hotel. They subsequently purchased Midland Powertrain, MG Rover's engine plant from BMW for £20. Finally, for £50 along with an undisclosed sum from the Royal Bank of Scotland, they purchased Rover Capital, (now MG Rover Capital) a book of Rover car loans. Kevin Howe was appointed MG Rover's Managing Director in July 2000. In April 2005, MG Rover went into administration, following the collapse of takeover talks with Shanghai Automotive
John B. Stephenson John B. Stephenson John B. Stephenson (September 26, 1937 – December 6, 1994) was a sociologist and scholar of Appalachia, a founder of the Appalachian Studies Conference, and president of Berea College from 1984 to 1994. John B. Stephenson was born in Staunton, Virginia, on September 26, 1937. He earned a B.A. degree in sociology from the College of William and Mary in Virginia in 1959, and M.A. (1961) and Ph.D. (1966) degrees in sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His dissertation, a community study of Celo, North Carolina, became his first book, "Shiloh: A Mountain