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Fruehauf gets rescued
Page 12
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CM COVER STORY
caristopher.wattorgartli.co.uk TIPPER TRAILER manufacturer Fruehauf has been bought out of administration for an undisclosed sum by Altrincharn-based Bowden Investment Group.
The investment consortium, led by Saul Loggenberg, purchased five businesses formely owned by Fruehauf parent company Wordsworth Holdings for what he describes as "a lot of money".
Fruehauf and its parent entered administration on 11 March with former chairman Duncan Wordsworth citing a collapse in orders, which shrank the company's turnover from £75m to £25m. It subsequently emerged that Fruehauf has an estimated deficiency of £10.44m (CM 6 May).
Loggenberg— who describes himself as a -corporate acquirer" — says the intention is to buy similar businesses in groups, combine them and grow them: "We will see some very exciting bolt-ons to
Fruehauf You will see it reposition itself as the preeminent tipper manufacturer. I have been looking at CV manufacturers and this gives us the footing to buy some other trailer manufacturers as well."
According to documents filed at Companies House by administrators Deloitte, Bowden was one of two parties it was negotiating with for the sale of the business.
The statement of administrators proposals also says that Wordsworth Holdings had seen its average monthly revenues fall by 65% in a 19-month period ending in January, largely caused by one of its companies that traded in the construction sector.
It adds that while Fruehauf had not experienced such a reduction in turnover, it was reducing its prices to maintain sales and,coupled with restrictions on available finance and weak customer confidence, it had pressures on its revenue. No funds are expected to be available for unsecured creditors.