Telford IT distributor bought out of administration
Telford technology distributor Entatech has been sold out of administration to a company led by members of its former management team, securing almost 30 jobs.
The IT specialist was placed into administration with accountants KPMG last week, with the immediate loss of 50 jobs.
That left 29 employees running the firm, and they have been told they will transfer to the new company after the takeover deal.
The business and its assets have been sold to C&W Distributors Limited, which trades as GNR Technology, and which is a new company led by members of Entatech's former management team.
Chris Pole, a partner at KPMG and joint administrator, said: “We are pleased to have completed a sale of the Entatech business, safeguarding the employees at the Telford site."
When the company entered administration on May 8, the administrators said it had been struggling "for some time" ahead of its collapse.
The business, which is based on the Stafford Park Industrial Estate in Telford, is a distributor of PC hardware, software, components and networking for the trade industry, counting retailers and resellers among its customers.
Entatech has experienced a rocky few years, leading to a takeover of the business and a restructure in 2015 – although that move proved insufficient to keep it out of administration.
Last week's collapse immediately led to 50 people losing their jobs with the company.
The company and the joint administrators worked with Devinder Singh and Russ Hill from law firm Squire Patton Boggs on the deal.
The company's turnover had fallen from £117 million to £103 million last year, as it attempted to stabilise in the wake of a legal case involving Changtel, a separate business from which it bought a number of assets in 2013.
Earlier this year Jason Tsai, the former Changtel managing director, was barred from being a company director for 13 years after a long-running investigation by HM Revenue & Customs.
He had also been a director of Entatech, but has had no involvement in that company in the run-up to the administration.
Reports had suggested that a takeover deal for Entatech had been in the offing before last week's collapse into administration, but that these had ultimately ended without success.
