Mystery buyer picks up M2 remnants

Hampshire reseller M2 has been sold to an off-the-shelf organisation for an undisclosed sum just three weeks after falling into administration.

The acquisition, which was brokered by chartered accountants Pannell Kerr Forster (PKF), was completed at the High Court on 7 June. The reseller filed for administration at the London High Court after creditors issued a winding-up order on the company (PC Dealer, 23 June).

The buyer is Searchclause, an off-the-shelf company incorporated in May.

According to credit rating agency Graydon, the company secretary is Swift Incorporations and its director is listed as Instant Companies. The directors specialise in incorporating fledgling companies.

Nitin Joshi, director of PKF, said: 'We received High Court approval last Wednesday and the sale has been blessed by the key creditors.'

The organisation or individuals behind Searchclause were unclear as PC Dealer went to press, although the amount paid for M2 is understood to be unsubstantial. One industry source told PC Dealer: 'There has been a quick turnaround since M2 only went into administration last month. The buyer is an off-the-shelf company, so the backers' identity may not emerge for some time.'

Another source suggested that the buyer could be a large creditor looking to recover its debt. The total debts of M2 are estimated to be between £2 million and £3.5 million and key creditors are understood to include Datrontech, Karma, Maxdata and VLSI.

One distributor, who declined to be named, said: 'We would only deal with M2 on a cash basis, but a number of distributors are exposed.'

M2 was unavailable for comment on the sale.

Since M2 directors Mick Brown and Sebastian Ballan were disqualified for eight and six years respectively last August (PC Dealer, 2 September 1998) their wives, Joanne Brown and Julie Ballan, had fronted the company.

Brown is a former director of PC retail chain Diamond Computer Systems, which went into liquidation in 1993 with outstanding debts of more than £3 million. Ballan was a director of Diamond's main creditor, Direction Technology.