SCH secures ailing firm

Creditors unhappy about payment deal.

SCH's takeover of Preview Data Systems has finally gone through.

Letters were sent out three weeks ago demanding that creditors accept the offer of 33 per cent or risk the deal not going through at all.

Sources suggested that if the deal had not gone ahead, Preview would have been 'technically insolvent'.

The majority of creditors are understood to have agreed the terms put forward by SCH as part of its deal to buy Preview (PC Dealer, 21 January).

But Eddie Pacey, credit manager at Ideal Hardware, claimed some creditors had still not signed the letter. 'Creditors cannot be forced to accept the offer of 33 per cent without the company going into a creditors' voluntary agreement,' he remarked. Without this happening, creditors are entitled to 100 per cent of their debts.

He added that unless the old Preview was closed down, then creditors could still insist on the full amount of their debt.

In a letter obtained by PC Dealer, Chris Wilde, chairman of Preview said to creditors: 'Preview is now a wholly owned subsidiary of SCH.

'Your support has helped secure the company's future and protect the interests of suppliers, clients and staff,' said Wilde.

Questions remain as to whether some creditors had been favoured over others and have been paid in full, despite the fact that under the terms of the letter sent out on 13 January, creditors are entitled to only a third of their debts. The money will be paid out in three installments at monthly intervals.

Neither SCH nor Preview Data Systems were available for comment at press time.