THE Butlers Engineering steel plant at Portarlington, Co Laois, has been sold for about £5 million. The firm, which went into receivership three months ago, owing more than £20 million, has been bought by SIAC, the civil contracting group.
SIAC would only say yesterday that one of its subsidiaries had agreed terms to buy the plant and anticipated that the deal would be completed next month. SIAC, which is not currently engaged in steel fabrication, will run the plant as a going concern.
The receiver, Mr Ray Jackson of KPMG, was appointed in February when it was revealed that Butlers Engineering had debts of £24 million. ICC Bank is the largest creditor and is owed £9 million, while Irish Intercontinental is owed £3.6 million.
Butlers was one of the biggest employers in Portarlington, employing around 130 people. It is not clear how many employees will be taken back.
The Laois operation comprises two plants, one of which was said to have cost £20 million to build.
It is said to have state of the art technology and a very large capacity, which has never been fully utilised.
Although Butlers had several contracts, including one for the new Hewlett Packard plant on the outskirts of Leixlip, Co Kildare, these are all finished. The first task of the new owners will be to win new contracts in an industry which is performing well but is very competitive on price.
SIAC is a family owned firm, which was founded in Cork by the Feighery family in 1930. It was previously known as the South of Ireland Asphalt Company.
It employs 350 people in Ireland and also operates in Britain. Its turnover last year was £47 million.
The company has two core activities civil engineering (it was involved in projects such as the Newbridge and Kilcock by passes) and a range of sub contracting work including cladding and roofing.
The company does not already operate a steel plant and the two businesses should complement each other, although Butlers will be run on a stand alone basis.
It is believed the receiver got more than 40 inquiries from firms which were interested in acquiring the plant. More than 20 separate parties visited the plant.
Some time after Mr Jackson was appointed, a second receiver was appointed. Mr Desmond Guilfoyle, of Cooper's & Lybrand, is trying to recover the book debts, thought to exceed £1 million.
