Reseller Ciscom faces carve-up

Fallen Cisco reseller Ciscom looks likely to be broken up following the breakdown of rescue talks with distributor Landis.

Fallen Cisco reseller Ciscom looks likely to be broken up following the breakdown of rescue talks with distributor Landis.

After the discussions failed, an outright sale - which receiver Levy Gee last week claimed was imminent - is now very unlikely, sources said.

Talks over the future of the Teddington-based reseller, which went into receivership last month, broke down because of a dispute over employee contracts, according to Maurice Moses, managing partner of Levy Gee's business recovery unit.

Ciscom's 80 employees have received no wages since 1 January, leaving a £400,000 bill for any prospective buyer to sort out.

Sources also said there had been a dispute with Ciscom directors over a non-competition agreement Landis had wanted included in the deal, whereby the directors would be unable to leave the firm to set up a rival company.

Moses said the main focus now was to sell off the maintenance contracts of Ciscom to various Cisco Gold partners.

"Although other factors were also involved, the large wage bill was the principal factor in the breakdown of negotiations," he said. "In an ideal world we would be able to find a buyer for the whole company, but now it is most likely the company will be broken up, and we already have lots of interested parties for the maintenance contracts."

Mike Watkins, managing director at Landis, said: " It's a great pity that negotiations have ended like this, with 80 people made redundant. We still aim to expand our services business and will continue to seek other opportunities."

Landis is aiming for European expansion, having increased its services consultants from 500 to 2500 in the past year, he added.