Insider Media Limited

Worcestershire-based Blade Tooling and Blade Technology have been sold out of administration to Gardner Group, headquartered in Derbyshire. The tooling manufacturers were sold for £600,000, which Gardner backed using its parent company Better Capital’s BECAP fund.

Better Capital, which acquired Gardner in February 2010, provided £2.5m in total through its BECAP fund. The cash was used to finance the acquisition and provide working capital requirements for the new company.

The deal, which was overseen by Blade’s administrators KPMG, will secure 60 jobs.

Blade Tooling employed 58 people and its partnership business Blade Technology, employed eight people. Six redundancies from Blade Tooling Company were made by the administrators.

Phil Lewis, chief executive of Gardner Group, said: "Gardner is very pleased to complete this acquisition and believe Blade is a business with great potential that will broaden Gardner's relationships with strategically important customers.”

Will Wright and Mark Orton, of KPMG, were appointed joint administrators on 23 December and continued to trade the business while actively seeking a buyer.

Will Wright, joint administrator at KPMG, said: "This is a great outcome for the business which has a good track record but has found itself in difficulty due to the tough trading conditions brought about by the recession.

"Once again this is an example of an investor acquiring a fundamentally sound business and being prepared to invest both funds and time in an operation.”