DTE Corporate Recovery and Insolvency Services was appointed as administrative receiver to the companys businesses on 23 June after being called in by its bankers.

Joint administrative receiver Andrew Poxon said the company had run into problems after implementing a major investment programme and being hit by rises in raw material prices.

The Papermarc Group comprises the businesses of Papermarc, Papermarc Merton, Bowden Holdings, Papermarc Properties and Papermarc Tubes.

Poxon said the business would continue to trade and he hoped to sell it as a going concern. There has been considerable interest in the business both from UK and European companies, he added.

Although Poxon said there had been no redundancies among the 380 staff, owner and managing director Mark Slevin has left the company.

The Papermarc Group was formed in July 2000 in a management buyout (MBO) led by Slevin, who was the former chief executive of Smurfit UKs industrial packaging division (PrintWeek, 14 July 2000). Slevin led the MBO of Smurfit Paper & Board Mills Burnley from the Jefferson Smurfit Group.

The Burnley mill employs 260 staff and produces more than 120,000 tonnes of packaging board and paper each year, both recycled and virgin grades. The group had an annual turnover of around 30m.

Story by Andy Scott