Gandalf gears up for a second division sell-off

Ailing Canadian company Gandalf is placing its UK services and maintenance business under the hammer after selling off its remote access division.

Mitel acquired Gandalf?s remote access business last week for $14.9 million. Steven Pearson, joint administrative receiver at Price Waterhouse, who is responsible for the receivership of Gandalf, confirmed that 32 staff had been made redundant. Some of the 60 remaining will move to Mitel.

Gandalf was put into receivership at the end of July and the sale of its services and maintenance division is expected to take place within the next few weeks. Pearson refused to name prospective buyers.

Paul Butcher, vice president of EMEA at Mitel, confirmed that Gandalf is selling its services and maintenance division. He said the acquisition of the remote access division was completed, but added: ?The problem is difficult for us because the job losses are not being handled by Mitel. We are taking the acquired engineering resource and are in discussions with sales and marketing to create opportunities.?