Dental group bought out of administration

A SUPPLIER of dental products has snapped up the assets of a troubled North West rival out of administration.

Acodent Dental Laboratory of Little Lever, Bolton, closed its doors on October 1 after running into financial difficulties  and shedding 115 staff.

Its assets have now been bought for an undisclosed sum by Atherton-based Swift Dental Laboratory, which is one of the UK’s largest privately-owned group of dental labs, with six sites across the UK.  

It employs 170 people and supplies a full range of crowns, bridges, implants, prosthetics and orthodontics to private and NHS Dental practices. Accountancy firm Mazars was appointed to handle the administration of Acodent’s parent company Alpha Zahn Limited.

The administrators entered into a trading licence agreement with Swift, ahead of a sale of all the company’s assets to a new company, which will become part of the Swift Dental Group, and will continue to trade as Acodent. Swift is now recruiting for a number of positions in the new business.

Robert Adamson, joint administrator and partner in Mazars’ business restructuring team, said: “The purchase of Acodent is great news for the business, its customers and the local community. We have worked closely with former staff at Acodent to help them claim redundancy payments and we are pleased that Swift will shortly be announcing job vacancies at the company.”

Roy McGillivray, managing director of Swift Dental Laboratory, said: “We were pleased to be asked by Mazars to be involved in the assessment of Acodent, and furthermore to be a major supporter of the new company going forward. Swift Dental Group has a long history in the North West and an excellent reputation amongst its customers.”

Andrew Walker, restructuring partner at the Leeds office of Irwin Mitchell, advised Mazars.