Manufacturer’s assets sold off following administration

THE administrators of manufacturer Realstone have managed to sell its assets but was unable to save the jobs of 35 staff following its administration in May.

A deal to buy the business as a going concern fell through at the 11th hour at the beginning of June, and administrators Keith Marshall and Gareth Harris of RSM Restructuring Advisory LLP

They were originally appointed as joint administrators of Realstone Limited, which supplies natural stone from its Chesterfield HQ and manufacturing sites in Glasgow and Penrith, on 18 May 2016.

The administrators have been able to sell the company’s assets and goodwill to Grants of Shoreditch, a construction supplier, on 20 July 2016.

Employees at Realstone continued to manufacture on site until the beginning of July when it became apparent that a sale of the business would not go ahead, and the employees were made redundant.

The business had underperformed and sustained trading losses during the period which led up to the administration.

RSM also advised on Realstone (Holdings) Limited’s solvent sale of its 100% shareholding in Block Stone Limited, also to Grants of Shoreditch Limited.

Keith Marshall, Joint Administrator and the RSM partner also advising in respect of the share sale of Block Stone Limited, said: ‘This has been a challenging transaction to deliver due to the mixture of interests to manage – from five groups of secured lenders combined with the need to sell both the closely linked insolvent and solvent entities at the same time.

“The addition of Realstone and Block Stone will complement the purchaser’s product offering and I understand that they intend to invest significantly in upgrading the quality of the factory at Bolehill, Chesterfield, and intend to create employment opportunities in the future when production is able to re-commence.”

Andy Stirk and Sam Dixon of Bond Dickinson worked alongside RSM and the administrators as the legal advisors and helped to successfully deliver the complicated transaction.

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