Bad tidings for Ilion staff this Christmas

Ilion staff face an uncertain Christmas as discussions concerning the troubled networking distributor continue to leave its future hanging in the balance.

Following the breakdown of talks with a number of mystery bidders at the end of November, channel sources claimed the distributor was considering a management buyout and a move to the French Stock Exchange.

The speculation follows the resignation of chief executive Wayne Channon and the installation of former Toplog managing director Serge van Gorkum (PC Dealer, 9 December).

One source said: 'Van Gorkum attempted a management buy-in when Channon was still at Ilion, but Wayne rejected it. Now he has gone, I expect van Gorkum to lead a management buy-out (MBO) and that is why acquisition talks have broken down.

'The main problem facing an MBO is securing funding. Investors may want to wait for the annual audit before they decide whether to back such a move,' he added.

Peter Rigby, director of marketing and communications at CHS, added: 'There's been a lot of talk about Azlan making a bid for Ilion, but I would be surprised if it could raise the capital to buy it. There is a great deal of nervousness in the City at the moment.'

With a market capitalisation of #63 million, Azlan is roughly four times the size of Ilion. A representative at Ilion's broker, Beeson Gregory, refused to comment.

A representative for Ilion said: 'As far as I know, talks were held with a number of parties a few weeks ago but came to nothing because they fizzled out over details. However, that's not to say nothing is going on.'