Collapsed plant hire firm owed £50m
Hawk Plant (UK), which owned Newark-based ground inspection firm Enverity before it was sold earlier this month, had debts of more than £50m when the group collapsed into administration in January.
New documents have detailed how the plant hire group’s funders have borne the brunt of the losses.
Asset-based lender Wells Fargo is owed £29.4m and alternative funder Aurelius Finance £6.0m. Business Growth Fund (BGF) is owed £10.6m, although only £1.5m is subject to a floating charge.
Administrators from EY – Sam Woodward, Alex Williams and Hunter Kelly – have initially estimated Hawk Plant’s deficit to be £52.6m.
They have previously highlighted “the group’s funding structure, with significant hire purchase and finance lease commitments” as putting pressure on the group’s cashflow “at a time that asset utilisation was comparatively low”.
Hawk Plant employed 420 people when it collapsed, and so far has claims from staff totalling £540,000.
Administrators were appointed on January 14 to Hawk Plant (UK) and five of its subsidiaries – Hawk Plant Hire, Hawk Hire, Safety and Training, Hawk Plant, and Hawk Plant Sales.
Some83 jobs were cut immediately by administrators but more than 100 jobs were saved when Plantforce Rentals agreed a deal to take over Hawk Plant’s work at EDF’s Hinkley Point C nuclear plant.
Enverity, which administrators said at the time was a viable business, was sold to Derby’s CET earlier this month.
Hawk Plant had previously enjoyed a period of strong growth and was backed by £8m from BGF three years ago.
BGF created a charge against the company on Christmas Eve, just weeks after an intercreditor agreement had been lodged by Aurelius Finance, creating a debenture against some of the group’s assets.
Aurelius had control of blocked bank accounts and oversight of four of the group’s major contracts.
These included its work on Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, the Lincoln Eastern Bypass, the Integra 61 development in Durham, and a contract with St Modwen.
