Svella has acquired the telecoms, plant hire, transport and accommodation business divisions of NMCN, securing more than 680 jobs out of the 1,700 total employees across the group.
On Monday 4th October, NMCN announced its intention to appoint administrators and, since then, Svella has been working with administrators at Grant Thornton UK on options to safeguard jobs.
Joint administrators were formally appointed on Wednesday 6th October, taking over control of the company, and terms have been agreed with them to acquire these divisions.
The acquisition by Svella will enable the telecoms division to continue servicing customer contracts, including telecoms infrastructure services for BT, Virgin Media and CityFibre, thereby ensuring continuity of service and maintaining supply chain integrity and security for the numerous businesses, contractors and traders within it.
Acquisition of the plant hire, transport and accommodation businesses, which include an extensive fleet of plant, machinery, vehicles, mobile offices and welfare units will allow Svella to ensure the telecoms business has access to the assets it needs to keep trading as a going concern.
Svella said that it was best positioned to ensure the ongoing hire of these assets to the other business divisions, which may be acquired out of administration by other parties.
Svella is also a secured creditor over the operating properties of the NMCN business, secured against its outstanding bridging facility.
Andrew Tinkler, Svella chairman, said: “The acquisition of the telecoms, plant, transport and accommodation business divisions by Svella safeguards over 680 important skilled roles and secures continuity of service for key national telecoms infrastructure clients.
“NMCN was one of the UK’s fastest-growing telecoms contractors and was actively supporting the government’s ambitions for nationwide coverage of ultrafast fibre broadband through a number of significant infrastructure contracts and frameworks. We aim to continue to deliver on these ambitions.
“These business divisions have growth potential and we will work closely with management teams to develop a comprehensive strategic plan and provide the support and investment to deliver operational excellence, enhance their customer proposition and facilitate growth.”
Carlisle-based Svella was set up in 2018 by former Stobart executives Andrew Tinkler and Ben Whawell to invest in under-performing companies. In June this year it agreed to take control of NMCN but the construction company was unable the sign off its 2020 annual report and accounts – a prerequisite for shareholder approval of the restructuring – before becoming insolvent.
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
