Administrator looks to sell Qire assets

THE administrators of Liverpool-based telecoms company Qire have stated that they are still looking for a buyer for the company’s intellectual property assets.

Reports had suggested that the company, which was placed into administration on January 27, had been sold to US-based Voxeo and would now trade as Qivox.

However, joint administrator Simon Wilson from the Manchester office of insolvency firm Zolfo Cooper told TheBusinessDesk.com that although a number of Qire’s staff had resigned to join Voxeo, a deal for the firm’s software code and other IP assets has yet to be agreed.

Qire was set up in 2003 and created a software system which could generate automated messages to be sent to customers via telephone systems.

The firm initially received funding from MSIF, but a change to Ofcom rules saw the bulk of its revenues slip away and it was placed into administration in 2008.

The business and assets were bought by Cooper and his co-directors, and the firm received another £1m in two separate investments from Maven Capital Partners, which invested in the business through the Government-backed Capital for Enterprise fund. Last year, Mr Cooper claimed the firm had reached turnover of £4.8m.

Joint administrator Simon Wilson said Qire had won a number of contracts to produce automated systems for new customers, but that these had been deferred by clients, which meant it was unable to make repayments to Maven or to debt provider RBS. It had also built a credit line with Voxeo, which had provided the telephony platform via which Qire sent its messages.

Since Zolfo Cooper’s appointment, Mr Wilson said that all ten of the staff at its former 20 Chapel St headquarters have either resigned or been made redundant, but that the source codes for the software and existing customer contracts remained as its principal assets.

He admitted that Voxeo would be an obvious candidate to buy these, but said that he was “continuing to look for a buyer”.

“We have to make sure that we get value for all of the creditors,” he said.