A team of Bristol professional advisers has helped with the takeover of a troubled leisurewear brand – the latest in a string of ‘pre-pack’ sales that are offering a lifeline to firms struggling in the tough retail sector.
North Devon-based Saltrock Surfwear went into administration last Friday and was then sold to subsidiary of the privately-owned casual wear retail group Crew Clothing in a pre-pack.
David Pike and Mark Orton from the Bristol office on accountancy group KPMG were joint administrators to Saltrock and the deal team also involved Bristol law firms Osborne Clarke and Temple Bright along with Manchester-based Addleshaw Goddard.
Following the sale, 25 Saltrock stores and 162 employees were retained by Crew Clothing while five stores were earmarked for closure resulting in 29 redundancies.
David Pike, who leads KPMG’s operational performance team for professional practice solutions as well as the restructuring practice in the South West and South Wales, said: “Following recent challenges the business has faced and in line with current experience across the retail sector, the company’s management team has worked hard to try to turn the business round and formulate a rescue bid.
“The sale via ‘pre-pack’ was required to provide the business with as much stability as possible by securing a new owner and finance for the business. This deal will see over 160 jobs transfer to the new owners.”
Crew Clothing chief executive officer David Butler said: “We are delighted to announce that we have acquired Saltrock the well-established surfwear retailer with a strong South West presence and in doing so pleased to have been able to protect the future of the brand and more importantly a significant number of the current employees of the business.
“Through this transaction we have now added Saltrock to our growing and successful business portfolio. It presents us with a huge opportunity and allows us to maximise our supply chain and operations giving great potential to the Salt Rock brand. We welcome their employees to our team and we aim to make the transition as smooth as possible for them.”
