Bensons for Beds acquired direct-to-consumer mattress retailer Eve Sleep’s brand and intellectual property for £600,000, according to the administrator’s report.
Bensons outbid two other players to secure the deal on October 17 and initially offered £300,000 before it was negotiated up to £600,000.
Other offers for the business included a similar bid at a lower amount and one on the basis of a going concern for the transfer of employees, for £25,000.
Eve Sleep’s intellectual property and assets were sold for £494,999 and its business contacts for £100,000. Other assets include a £300,000 cash balance on the date of administration and book debts.
Eve Sleep was valued at £140m when it floated on AIM in 2017.
Preferential claims of £400,000 are owed to HMRC, which will be paid in full, while unsecured sums are in the region of £2.4m.
Administrators said there was a possibility of return for unsecured creditors. However, it was too early to provide details of how much or when.
Eve Sleep’s biggest creditors include Global Freight Solutions, Usleep, Google Ireland and Clear Finance Technology.
Bensons for Beds said the purchase of Eve Sleep, which was backed by owner Alteri Investors, would allow the business to expand its appeal and drive its digital development.
The retailer added that it intends to keep Eve Sleep as a standalone brand and relaunch the website later this month.
Kroll Investments joint administrator Matt Ingram said: “Eve Sleep is a well-established brand with huge visibility across the UK; however, it faced a challenging market backdrop over the past year.
“The company launched a formal sales process in June 2022, but with UK consumer confidence reaching a record low in August 2022 this process was unsuccessful.”
Bensons for Beds chief executive Nick Collard said: “Eve Sleep is a brand that we know resonates strongly with key customer groups and we’re looking forward to unlocking its full potential as it takes advantage of our scale and reach.
“What’s more, bringing in Eve Sleep alongside our own growing portfolio of high-quality in-house brands will help us widen Bensons’ appeal to a broader set of customers.
“With the backing of our owner, Alteri Investors, this is another indication that we are delivering on our pledge to fulfil the promise of the Bensons for Beds brand itself – not just as a retailer of market-leading proprietary brands, but with a distinctive and coherent set of owned-brand sleep solutions for any customer, both digitally and through our stores.”
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