Richard Irvin & Sons Ltd, trading as Richard Irvin Energy Solutions, entered administration with EY. It was then announced that Rcapital had acquires facilities management division of Richard Irvin. The acquisition has saved jobs in the FM division, which employs 335 people, but no buyer was found for the mechanical and electrical business. As a result, there have been 107 redundancies.
The FM business is based in Aberdeen and has a further five offices across Scotland. The new business will be called Richard Irvin FM Limited.
The company said that the management team will work in partnership with Rcapital to restructure and invest in the business. The firm has a number of public and private sector facilities management clients, including Scottish councils, for whom it provides maintenance and repair services on a 24/7 basis.
Managing director Mark Buchan said: “The acquisition of the facilities management division provides the opportunity to develop and grow the business. The team at Rcapital have the expertise to help us build on the strong foundations we already have.”
Josie Richardson, director at Rcapital, said: “The facilities management division of Richard Irvin is strong and profitable with real potential. We fully support the management team and will work with them to ensure the best possible customer service and sustainable growth.”
Richard Irvin & Sons had experienced difficult trading conditions, coinciding with increased political and economic uncertainty, which resulted in a decline in business activity and reduced margins on customer contracts. Earlier in 2018, management were approached by a substantial business in the sector with an interest in acquiring the FM business with the aim to complete a transaction no later than 30 November 2018.
The transaction timetable was not met and due to cashflow constraints the company was unable to pay HMRC liabilities that were due. The company was not able to complete the deal on a solvent basis.
Responding to this, the directors resolved to lodge a notice of intention to appoint administrators. An accelerated marketing process of the company and its assets was therefore considered to represent the best course of action for the creditors as a whole. The EY team undertook this process, actively marketing the business to a carefully selected list of prospective purchasers.
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