Recriminations over the collapsed deal to sell ISG have broken out between the contractor and the firm that had been negotiating to buy it.
The disagreement over the reasons for the failed sale came after Construction News last night broke the news that six ISG companies had applied to enter administration after months of intense discussions between the two parties.
Antipodean Holdings, set up earlier this year by South African entrepreneur Andre Rudiger and Australian James Overton, had been in negotiations with ISG’s US owner Cathexis for more than six months in a bid to acquire the company.
In an email to staff late last night, ISG chief executive Zoe Price said: “I want you to know there have been significant efforts made to secure a sale of the group over many months.
“While there has been speculation for some weeks now, I can confirm that it was not possible to conclude a sale, as the purchaser could not satisfy the funding needed to recapitalise the business.”
However, a statement from Rudiger said that ISG had abruptly halted communications on 12 September.
He claimed that, despite discovering the company was in a more precarious financial state than initially believed, Antipodean Holdings was still committed to finalising the deal.
“Contrary to the email sent out to ISG staff, we were ready to strike a deal that would have secured the company’s future and the jobs of its employees,” he said.
Antipodean’s due diligence showed that ISG “was in a much more financially perilous state and the company’s future much graver than we originally suspected”, Rudiger said, but “we were still committed to finalising a fair deal.
“While that resulted in an updated turnaround plan and working capital solution, from our perspective, the deal was still progressing.”
He expressed regret that “despite finances being in place”, ISG had chosen to go into administration
“It is an unfortunate end to what had the potential to be a fruitful acquisition. Antipodean had a robust turnaround plan in place and was confident we could save jobs and return ISG to growth and profitability,” he said.
“This plan was developed in concert with leading industry professionals and, in time, would have returned ISG to full profitability.”
He said Antipodean was not made aware of ISG’s decision to cancel the deal or to liquidate the business.
A statement from fellow director James Overton said: “We firmly believe that ISG had more than enough talent and potential to reclaim its rightful space in the UK and global construction sectors.
“Our turnaround plan would have made full use of that talent, not only to protect jobs but also to ensure that they could help rebuild and position ISG for long-term growth. ISG staff and the supply chain should be infuriated that the company’s ownership failed to see that and act in their best interests.”
In her email, Price said that US owner Cathexis had also explored refinancing and selling individual business units, but none of these strategies came to fruition within the required timeframe.
