Following the appointment of Begbies Traynor as administrator of Northants-based furniture producer Kettle Interiors UK Ltd, the goodwill and intellectual property rights of the company have been sold to Kettle Home.

Established for 30 years, family-run Kettle Interiors has sold furniture under a number of brands to UK and European retailers.

According to the administrators it started to struggle, financially, due to escalating shipping costs since the onset of the pandemic in 2020

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A statement released by joint administrators Gary Shankland and Ken Pattullon read:

“Following our appointment as administrators of Kettle Interiors UK Ltd (‘Kettle’), and due to the various challenges and creditor pressures Kettle faced in the lead up to the date of insolvency, an open marketing sale process was instructed, through our selling agents, who advertised the disposal of the goodwill and intellectual property rights of Kettle in the public domain.

“This marketing sale process generated significant interest within the furniture sector locally and abroad and many interested parties contacted our selling agents during the diligence and sales window.

“Within this sales process a number of offers for the goodwill and intellectual property rights of the Kettle business were received by our agents.

“At the closing date of the marketing process, at 5pm yesterday (March 28, 2023), our selling agents advised that one offer was materially higher than the other offers received for the goodwill and IPR of the business.

“This offer was from an associated company called Kettle Home Ltd. As a result, our agents gave this bid the preferred bidder status, subject to diligence and funding, and recommended its acceptance.

“Following consultation and recommendations from our agent to accept the preferred bid, the administrators began a consultation process with the company’s lender, which holds security over the assets subject to the offer, for their subsequent review and approval of the preferred bid received.

“The administrators write to confirm that following an open market sales campaign, the offer from the preferred bidder, Kettle Home Ltd, was today accepted for the acquisition of the goodwill of the Kettle branding and associated IPR, subject to contact, contrary to previous articles that may have been released.”

Subsequent sale deadlines have also been put in place, as the administrators seek to dispose of the vehicles, chattel assets and remaining stock in an open marketing tender sale.