Evesham sale raises concerns

Brand set to live on after PCC Technology acquires assets, while creditors are left angry after rejected bid revelation

Creditors of Evesham Technology are rumoured to be stewing over the rejection of a genuine offer for the troubled system builder that would have saved it from going under.

However, the Evesham brand looks set to live on after former Time/Tiny founder Tahir Mohsan, salvaged the company with a $22m injection as part of a pre-pack administration deal under accountancy firm Leonard Curtis, which saw 150 staff axed (CRN Online, 6 August).

Dubai-based investment firm, PCC Technology, which is owned by Mohsan, bought the assets of Evesham and granted new firm, GeeMore Technology, the rights to sell goods under the Evesham brand.

Former Evesham chairman Richard Austin is now managing director of GeeMore and a company owned by Tariq Mohammed, another Time/Tiny founder, is listed as secretary.

GeeMore, trading as Evesham Technology, has 138 former Evesham staff on board and plans to focus on consumer electronics and high-end PC systems. Austin told CRN: "I'm excited to be part of a firm that is on an upswing instead of a downswing."

Mark Ancell, head of intelligence at Graydon, said: "GeeMore is going to have to build up its reputation before anyone will give it substantial credit. Distributors will trade with it, on a lower level to start with, while credit insurers will need to see a business plan and know what the new company's plans are."

However, some channel players are concerned over revelations that an offer for the firm was knocked back.

Nick Smith, marketing director at Elonex, said: "Legally, directors have to do what's in the best interests for a company and its creditors and I'm not sure that has been the case here. We put on the table a genuine offer of £1m for Evesham several months ago. We had lawyers draw it up and had the extra investment needed to prop up the business.

"Our offer also involved a plan to keep the business afloat rather than send it into administration. It will be interesting to find out if the administrators were aware of this offer," he said.

Nitin Joshi, founder of advisory firm ChannelMoney, added: "I'm representing some of the creditors and it will be disappointing if the directors didn't investigate a genuine offer for the firm. Going forward, creditors will want to know what the offer was and why it was rejected."

The administrators were unavailable for comment.