Downfall of packaging company reveals investor U-turn

An Alfreton packaging company which slipped into administration for the second time in two years earlier owed £1.2m to creditors, according to documents seen by TheBusinessDesk.com.

CP Realisations (formerly Charapak Packaging) called in administrators from Duff & Phelps after a series of events stretching back to last year. The company had been sold in a pre-pack deal in January 2017.

Documents prepared by administrators show that although the new company traded well initially, it lost two of its major clients last and took a £1.9m hit and led to a loss of nearly £500,000 by the end of November last year.

Directors at the firm began to look for external investment and appointed a new chairman in September last year. However, before the investment deal was completed, the investor retracted the offer on the basis that the company had just lost its biggest client and had failed to replace the business.

This led to Charapak defaulting on PAYE and HMRC payments and all subsequent investors withdrawing their interest.

Documents show that West Bromwich business CBS Packaging bought the company for just under £50,000, while Maltby Forman bought plant, machinery and vehicles for £18,500.