Updated: Sherafati buys back Mesh brand

Founder pledges to restore system builder to former glories

The founder of Mesh Computers has bought back his firm nine months after it folded with debts of more than £2m, PC Pro has reported.

According to documents filed with Companies House on 7 February, Mehdi (aka "Max") Sherafati has been appointed as a director of PC Peripherals, which acquired Mesh for £1.55m from administration last June.

PC Peripherals' previous owner, Reza Jafari, had his appointment as a director terminated on 24 November, Companies House also shows.

Mesh's sale last year was not universally welcomed, with some customers even setting up a Facebook group to vent their fury over stock sent for repair that had not been returned.

In a statement sent to PC Pro, Sherafati confirmed he had bought back the firm and said he wanted to "restore Mesh to the forefront of the UK system builder market".

Sherafati's return – which was first flagged up in a PC Advisor forum four days ago – may well pique the attention of Mesh's administrator, Macintyre Hudson, which was forced to curtail its marketing activities to sell the firm due to a lack of funds to maintain trading.

For that reason, it inserted a clause in the contract stating that in the event Mesh was resold, it will be entitled to 20 per cent of the proceeds in excess of the £1.55m PC Peripherals paid last year.

Sherafati, who founded Mesh in 1987, stated: "I have bought back the company and have again begun investing in the business to grow the organisation. New premises and a completely new IT infrastructure are already in place and we are already working with Intel, AMD and other key manufacturers to generate new offers for 2012."

Nick Smith, chief executive of system builder Elonex, argued that the Mesh brand would profit from the return of its original owner.

"It is a very difficult time for the conventional PC market and we hope the Mesh brand succeeds," he said. "There is still definitely a market for vertical markets, which Mesh caters for quite well."

In a statement sent to ChannelWeb, Mesh intimated the change in ownership and investment in new premises, IT infrastructure, systems and personnel had taken place before Christmas.

"Max lent PC Peripherals the £1.5m necessary to fund the purchase of MESH - on the basis that he would get a debenture guarantee against PC Peripherals," the statement read. "When it later became clear that PC Peripherals was not able to take the brand forward, Max agreed to invest even more money into the business and took ownership of the company through his debenture."