MORE than 200 jobs have been saved at one of Worcester's best-known companies after a buy-out by a New York firm.

Metal Castings, a car parts company, which has traded from the Droitwich Road site for 85 years, went into administration at the end of April as it struggled to come to terms with the downturn in the automotive industry.

The Transport and General Workers' Union welcomed the buy-out which it said would secure its members' employment.

US-based Marathon Asset Management has promised to keep Metal Castings' historic name and said it hoped to expand the business in the future.

A spokesman for Marathon said: "The business will continue to trade, without interruption, under the Metal Castings name.

"The new company carries no debt on its opening balance sheet.

"It is Marathon's intention to stabilise the new company financially and build on the company's existing reputation for engineering excellence and production quality."

The spokesman added it wanted Metal Castings to grow to become the best aluminium die-casting business in Europe.

Fred Hanna of the Transport and General Workers' Union said it was good news for its members. He said: "It secures their future.

"All employees were written to, saying that all contracts would be honoured. We are now seeking to meet the new owners to hear about their plans for future investment."

Metal Castings, which produces aluminium parts, such as door panels and gear box housings for the car industry, and also pieces for white goods such as washing machines, has been a feature in Worcester since 1921.

If Marathon, which has assets around the world valued at more than $11billion, can make true its promise to make it Europe's largest pressure die-casting works, it will return the company to the status it enjoyed in the late 1970s. At that time it employed more than 1,000.

It has been owned by American people once before. Doehler Jarvis bought it in 1961, before selling it on to the Matchbox toys group.