Suitors hover as Elonex goes into administration
Potential buyers wait in the wings as troubled system builder appoints administrator
A number of interested firms were believed to be circling system builder Elonex after it went into administration last week.
As exclusively revealed by CRN Online, the channel rumour mill went into overdrive when it emerged that Computer 2000 (C2000) had filed a winding-up petition last month against Elonex, which is believed to owe in the region of £20m to various creditors.
Administrator Deloitte & Touche confirmed that a total of 28 people had lost their jobs, but said they were keen to sell the company as a going concern as quickly as possible.
A representative from Deloitte & Touche told CRN that Elonex “will continue to do business as usual” with its remaining 48 staff, and is honouring all existing customer warranties.
Phil James, commercial controller at C2000, said: “It is always a shame to see this happen, but we have to follow set guidelines and make sure that we try to do our best to collect money due. I have heard that [the administrator is] currently looking for buyers, and we are keen to see that come about.”
Carolyn Worth, external relations manager at rival PC builder Evesham, said: “Elonex has a good brand name and customer base. I can understand why someone would want to buy it. Elonex had invested a lot in the [now defunct] Home Computing Initiative. So if it was already wobbly on its feet, that was the final blow.”
Eddie Pacey, director of credit at Bell Microproducts Europe, said: “It is sad to see a business of this age get to this point. However, it is perfectly understandable, given what it has had to face over the past 18 months, both in terms of suppressed revenue and fierce competition from the A-brand vendors.”
Ian Snadden, director of large enterprises at Fujitsu Siemens Computers, said: “The white-box market has been an endangered species for a long time, because major vendors are more efficient and can build bespoke customer products. There is only one exception to this rule, and that is Dell.
I can’t imagine that there are many system builders out there that are ‘cash rich’ at the moment, or that would want to buy a struggling business.”
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