Zelf Hussain, Rachael Wilkinson and David Baxendale of PwC were appointed as joint administrators of Cordant Group Plc and several of its subsidiary companies on 2 March 2020:
(“the Companies”)
The appointments were made on application by the directors of the respective companies at the High Court of Justice in England and the Court of Session, Edinburgh.
Immediately following their appointment, the businesses and certain assets of the Companies were sold to a series of Special Purpose Vehicles controlled by Twenty20 Capital Holdings Limited, a London and European based private investment firm. The sale has secured a future for the businesses, preserved c.45,000+ current roles and minimised disruption to customers.
Cordant Group Plc is the UK’s leading independently owned talent solutions group, placing staff into temporary and permanent roles to work on behalf of more than 5,000 client organisations across a broad and diverse range of specialisms.
During 2019 the group sought to refinance its banking facilities following a number of default and terminating events. No acceptable refinancing terms could be secured, however, with the continued support of its incumbent lenders, the group was able to pursue a sales process and successfully secure a buyer.
Zelf Hussain, joint administrator and PwC partner, said:
“We are extremely proud to have secured a future for the business, its customers and saved the jobs of nearly c.45,000+ employees. The past 12 months have been a difficult period for the business but this sale will allow it to prosper going forward on a more secure financial footing.”
UPDATE - February 2024
We are pleased to confirm that we have now concluded our work as Joint Administrators of eight of the nine entities. We remain as Joint Administrators of Cleaning. All other entities have been dissolved.
UPDATE- September 2024
Cleaning- We are pleased to confirm on 3 September 2024, we declared and paid a first and final unsecured dividend to Unsecured creditors of 0.54p in the £.
Entity | Estimated divdiend | Estimated timing* |
Cleaning | < 0.5p in the £ | Paid September 2024 |
PMP | 0.11p in the £ | Paid February 2023 |
Technical | 60.81 p in the £ | Paid May 2022 |
*Last updated in November 2024
Rachael Maria Wilkinson, Zelf Hussain and David Robert Baxendale were appointed as joint administrators of the Companies on 2 March 2020 to manage its affairs, business and property as its agents and without personal liability. All are licensed in the United Kingdom to act as insolvency practitioners by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
The joint administrators are bound by the Insolvency Code of Ethics which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/insolvency-practitioner-code-of-ethics.
The joint administrators may act as controllers of personal data as defined by the UK data protection law depending upon the specific processing activities undertaken. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP may act as a processor on the instructions of the joint administrators. Personal data will be kept secure and processed only for matters relating to the joint administrators’ appointment. Further details are available in the privacy statement on the PwC.co.uk website or by contacting the joint administrators.