WHP Newbury assets bought by Synergie Group

Synergie Group has bought some of the assets of WHP Newbury and recruited 21 of its former staff.

Synergie Group, which owns several small litho and digital printers, purchased the assets as WHP Newbury was set to be liquidated with all 58 staff made redundant. The business will now operate as White Horse Synergie.

Terry Hannam, Synergie Group managing director, said: "The purchase went through on 29 March, and we have brought back 21 staff from the company and taken on quite a bit of the work.

"We've thinned out the kit and have acquired the B2 equipment that we wanted. However, the B1 and digital presses are no longer on site.

"We've acquired a lot of businesses across the UK over the past year, and we now have a presence in the digital and packaging market."

He added that the company was keeping its options open as far as further purchases were concerned.

John Endersby of Elwell, Watchorn & Saxton, who was appointed as insolvency practitioner for WHP, declined to comment on the sale.

Synergie Group was incorporated in November 2008 and Companies House lists Maxine Hannam and Terry Hannam as directors.

In February, £5.5m-turnover WHP Newbury was sold by its former managing director Peter Arnel in an MBO deal to existing director Alan Whitelaw and consultant Mike Godfrey.

It was then set to be liquidated in March with all 58 staff made redundant after the company was left with "insufficient cash with which to operate".