One of the UK’s largest business continuity providers, Sungard Availability Services UK, has gone into administration. Teneo has been appointed as the administrator and has obtained some limited additional funding to maintain services to Sungard AS UK customers for the immediate future.
The following statement was provided to Continuity Central by Teneo:
Sungard Availability Services (UK) Ltd has been struggling in the face of rising power costs and the impact of COVID on its Work Area Recovery business. These factors have made many sites unprofitable and the company has been unable to pass rising costs through to customers, resulting in a near term funding issue.
The company has been engaging with its key landlords, customers and parent (and its funders) to try and seek a consensual restructuring. However, despite the board’s best efforts these discussions have not been productive. The board therefore concluded that, without the requisite customer and landlord support, there was no viable turnaround plan available and the Directors agreed that they should file to appoint Benjamin Dymant and Ian Wormleighton from Teneo as Joint Administrators.
Benjamin Dymant, Joint Administrator, said:
“The Joint Administrators have been able to agree a limited amount of funding from the ultimate shareholder of the Group. This should ensure that any immediate impact for customers is kept to any absolute minimum in the initial period of the administration. This funding provides a platform to advance the Company’s discussions with landlords, to optimise cost and space, and with customers, to pass through increased power costs. The ability for the business to continue to trade in the medium to long term, either to enable a rescue of the business as a going concern or to deliver individual asset sales, will be reliant upon burden sharing from both customers and landlords alike.
We will be working with the shareholder and other stakeholders to further consider the ability for the Company to continue trading on a day to day basis. Any changes will be communicated directly with customers, employees and suppliers directly.”
