A SECOND receiver has been appointed to Butlers Engineering, the Portarlington, Co Laws based steel manufacturer which has debts of £20 million.

The receiver, Mr Desmond Guilfoyle of Coopers & Lybrand in Dublin, has been appointed by Preussag Stahl, a German company which supplied steel to Butlers. It is owed in excess of £1 million. Preussag holds a fixed charge over Butlers' book debts. These debts are understood to exceed £600,000.

Mr Guilfoyle said yesterday he did not have an exact figure for the book debts and could not confirm the £600,000 figure. His company was still carrying out a full examination of the files relating to these debts and would not have an exact figure for a week. He said he was confident that the book debts were recoverable.

It is understood that Preussag I took a fixed charge on the book debts in 1994 because, at that stage, it was the major supplier to Butlers.

Accountancy sources said it was unusual for a second receiver to be appointed to a company.

However others pointed out that Preussag had taken a fixed change on Butlers assets as it was a major supplier, when the financial institutions had fixed charges on a company experiencing difficulties.

Mr Guilfoyle's work will not impinge on efforts by the other receiver, Mr Ray Jackson of KPMG, to find a buyer for the plant, which had employed 130 people.

Mr Jackson has declined to put a price tag on the plant, which some industry sources put at £10-£12 million. It is understood that he has not received any offers to date.

Butlers book value is £20 million, and it was in the process of building a steel fabrication plant, costing £30 million, to service the international market.