Tatas-owned Jaguar Land Rover is in advanced talks with the British government and banks on a 800 million pounds refinancing that could help the company on stream and save 15,000 jobs.

Quoting sources, The Sunday Times said negotiations were at a delicate stage and hinged on whether the Midlands-based car maker could provide sufficient security to the government and a syndicate of commercial banks-- led by Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds-- for the loans required.

Tata is understood to have agreed in principle to invest another 100 million pounds alongside the refinancing, the report said.

The government has asked for the security in return for guaranteeing repayment of a 340 million pounds loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB).

Directors of the EIB approved the loan last week but the money cannot be given to Jaguar until the terms of the state underwriting are in place. Tata bought Jaguar Land Rover from Ford in June last year for 1.15 billion pounds.

The group was then profitable but sales collapsed as the banking crisis deepened. In March, Jaguar sales were down 30 percent compared with the same month last year, while Land Rover sales were down 37 percent.