Inkwell acquires Dudley name, brand and customer base
Following on from our story yesterday that Inkwell Direct had acquired Dudley Office Supplies, Inkwell’s managing director Howard Calvert told channelinfo that the company has acquired the Dudley name, brands, database and all rights to its customer list.
Inkwell has been in and out of negotiations to acquire Dudley over the last 12 months, firstly from the Brient family prior to the administrators being called in at the end of September 2001, and secondly last month when the new Dudley Office Supplies that emerged from administration in January this year was put up for sale as a going concern. Inkwell was in competition with three other companies, rumoured to be OyezStraker, Lyreco and Office Depot, and was told that it had been
outbid by one of the other companies. When the deal fell through last week, Dudley Office Supplies went into administrative receivership under Grant Thornton and all staff were subsequently made redundant.
Inkwell approached Grant Thornton on Monday this week and on Tuesday finalised the acquisition deal. Howard Calvert says Grant Thornton was looking for a purchaser that could meet three criteria, which in order of importance were the ability to perform, price and structure.
Inkwell has not acquired Dudley Office Supplies’ debts or premises, with the latter described by Howard Calvert as a ‘white elephant’ and too big for the size of the business, and is in negotiations to acquire the stock. The plan is to merge the business into Inkwell’s existing nationwide structure and to operate ‘effectively, commercially and prudently’. Says Calvert:: “We have no disillusions moving forward, we will not overload with overheads.”
Calvert says he is now looking to recruit staff nationwide across all company functions. Anyone interested should contact Inkwell on telephone 020 8450 4656 or fax number 020 8452 5567.
22-May-2002
