Servo comes to Holdene rescue

Servo Computer Services beat more than five bidders to pick up Holdene for an undisclosed sum after the Leeds-based dealer went into administrative receivership two weeks ago (PC Dealer, 3 July).

Servo directors and the receivers Price Waterhouse were locked in meetings for two days to close the deal.

Servo, which is owned by the Anglia Telecommunication Group, agreed to take on Holdene's assets and 107 staff under the terms of the deal. But it could not rule out the possibility of future redundancies.

Bill Smith, Servo chairman, said: 'We have no plans for redundancies at the outset but obviously we need to get a grip on what needs to be done. We will review the situation in the coming months.' Peter Jackson, group MD at Servo, is responsible for merging the two businesses.

The Anglia Telecom Group will almost double in size. Last year it turned over u26 million, this is expected to reach ay least u45 million in the current year.

Smith, who is also chairman of Anglia, claimed Holdene was 'a jigsaw fit'. 'They're really strong with HP, we're in with Compaq and what they do with Microsoft, we have on Novell. They fit not just geographically, but with their customers and skill base as well.'

The 300 creditors, including MS, Toshiba and numerous distributors, are still waiting for a date for the creditors' meeting, as Servo did not take on Holdene's debts. Matthew Wilde, joint administrative receiver at Price Waterhouse, said it was possible Holdene would go into liquidation before a meeting took place.