Rivals line up to pick over Maverick assets

Administrator cites significant interest in failed distributor as creditors move in

The sale of doomed distributor Maverick’s assets is likely to go through within a week after some 25 parties expressed strong interest, according to the administrators.

Audiovisual distributor Maverick applied for a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) last month after narrowly avoiding entering administration (CRN, 1 October).

However, creditors who are owed £3m in total rejected the CVA on 31 October and two days later Tenon Recovery was appointed as administrator for the Reading-based firm.

As CRN went to press, Gareth Roberts, director of Tenon, confirmed that Tenon had already received a significant level of interest in the assets of Maverick.

“Between 20 and 25 parties have expressed interest. I have met with four on site and am confident the sale of Maverick’s assets will go ahead.”

John Weatherhead, one of Maverick’s original founders and director of parent company VPH, said: “We are gutted that the CVA was rejected. The larger creditors thought that they would get more back if Maverick was placed into administration, but most of the smaller guys wanted to stick with the CVA.”

The assets up for grabs include the company name and goodwill, the stock and the four separate business units that sat under the Maverick umbrella: Hotlamps, Screen Expert, Convergence and VisualiserPro.

"Hotlamps is the most attractive asset for buyers,” said Roberts.

Dave Bethell, managing director of rival distributor Just Lamps, said: “We are interested in buying Hotlamps - it is not a secret that I have been speaking to the administrator, but there is a lot of interest, so who knows what will happen.”