K&K duo snaps up Sibley’s assets
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chris.tindall@rbi.co.uk SIBLEY HAULAGE, a subsidiary of F Swain & Sons, has followed its parent company into administration after a bid to buy the business fell through.
However, its trucks, trailers and a licence agreement to use Sibley’s yard have been purchased by businessmen Peter Millington and Nikola Kusov, trading as K&K Services.
Millington says he was on the verge of buying Sibley Haulage as a going concern, but he pulled out when it became apparent the irm was on the brink of insolvency.
“It was a viable business and I was prepared to take on the liabilities of the business,” he says. “I put a sensible offer to [administrator] BDO. Unfortunately, it took the decision to prolong the process in excess of its original deadline.” Millington declines to go into details, but he claims that between his initial interest in the business in September 2010 and January 2011 it had become “completely bereft of working capital”.
He adds: “The only option left was to buy the assets. We are frustrated that the bidding process was prolonged for whatever reason.” Millington insists he has had no other connection with the administration of Sibley Haulage and that he resigned from F Swain as far back as January 2010.
Sibley creditor James McCann, of McCann Transport Services, says he is owed £1,800 for backload work. “We worked for it since summer last year. We were made aware of F Swain, but were told Sibley Haulage was the proitable arm of the business. We were paid, so we didn’t think it was a problem. I can’t see myself getting any thing in the pound back.” A BDO spokeswoman says it brought Sibley’s trading to a close shortly after its appointment as joint administrators on 14 February.
BDO declines to comment on Millington’s claims about the company’s inancial situation or the bidding process.