35 jobs saved with furnishings company sale
All jobs at a furnishing and logistics company have been rescued following the successful sale of the company.
The 35 employees at Serene Beds and Furniture Limited – which operates from a 100,000 sq ft site at Hill Top Trading Estate in Shaw Street, West Bromwich – will remain in post following the pre-pack administration sale, which was negotiated by Conrad Beighton and David Griffiths of Leonard Curtis on March 31.
The company, which supplies home furnishings and logistics across the UK, Central Europe and the Far East, had struggled with cash flow problems and long-term debts incurred during the Covid-19 pandemic, producing lower profit margins than originally forecast.
Leonard Curtis stepped in to conduct a restructuring exercise via a pre-pack administration to save the core business and jobs, conducting a discreet accelerated mergers and acquisitions process to advertise the opportunity without damaging any key assets of the business.
The process was accelerated due to external pressure from creditors and lack of short-term cash to continue trading.
The sale of Serene Beds and Furniture was predominantly funded by its secured creditor via an invoice finance facility.
Administrator Mr Beighton said: “This case brought about a number of challenges and issues throughout, but our approach to managing all stakeholder interests as best as possible was key.
“This was to ensure a pre-pack administration sale could be completed as this represented the best outcome for the company’s creditors as a whole.
“The funder provided financial support during the process to ensure the business could continue trading. This was essential as a sale could not have been achieved without it.”
