Exclusive: Dave Stevinson buys Entatech assets

Entatech MD creates new brand, GNR Technology Limited, in move he claims will realise an extra £1m in return for creditors of fallen distributor

Some of fallen distributor Entatech's assets have been bought from administration by its managing director, Dave Stevinson.

Stevinson confirmed that an agreement with administrator KPMG had been finalised at 2pm this afternoon, claiming the move will secure an extra £1m or more for creditors and save 29 roles.

Entatech entered administration last Monday after a last-gasp attempt to sell the distributor in a ‘pre-pack' deal to Beta fell through. It had been seeking a trade deal for several months amid a deepening credit crunch.

Stevinson said he and his family have acquired a new firm, GNR Technology Limited, which has bought some of Entatech's assets, namely the stock and some fixtures and fittings, as well as goodwill that gives it access to customer contracts.

GNR stands for ‘greatest net return', reflecting the distributor's mission of maximising the return for its vendor creditors.

"Continuing to trade means there is an extra £1m for the unsecured creditors," Stevinson told CRN.

"That's through higher realisation on the stock value, significant debtor book collection, no further redundancy costs and lower administration fees.

"We felt that we had a duty to the creditors to maximise their position by continuing to trade rather than just giving up."

Over 20 suitors had looked at Entatech's books before it went bust, but no serious contenders came forward other than Beta, Stevinson said, adding that some may have been discouraged by its historical association with Changtel, which was wound up by HMRC in 2015. Other than people wanting to buy the stock, even in administration there had been no serious offers, Stevinson said.

"We've protected the remaining 29 jobs and we can manage the channel inventory of our vendors, as opposed to seeing the stock purchased by an inventory auction house," he said. "Although we haven't had the luxury of time, and it's very hard to start quickly with insufficient planning, it's a very, very exciting challenge."

Stevinson said GNR would be funded by a blend of personal funding and new funding secured from Aldermore Bank plc.

Stevinson claimed GNR was in it for the long haul, although admitted some of Entatech's vendors might struggle to work with a new and smaller company.

"It's a narrow-line distributor, focusing on the UK market. We expect to hold onto the key vendors," he said.