Begbies Traynor Group

Teesside engineering group placed into administration

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Date Published: 01/03/2017

On 23rd February 2017, Lee Lockwood and Bob Maxwell were appointed as joint administrators of Cordell Group Limited and its subsidiary Cordell Southern Technical Services (CSTS) Limited.

Based in Stockton-on-Tees, Cordell Group is a multi-disciplinary engineering design, fabrication and construction contractor.  Formed in 2000, the group provides services to a range of industry sectors including petrochemical, chemical, oil and gas, steel, power generation, transport and commercial buildings.  Its subsidiary, CSTS Limited, provides a comprehensive range of electrical engineering services for building management systems.

Cordell Group made 50 redundancies on 3rd February prior to the commencement of the administration, and a further 57 redundancies were made upon it entering administration.  All 10 staff at CSTS have also been made redundant.  The administrators are currently continuing to trade with the group’s major customers to complete a number of existing projects while they consider the options for the business and the remaining 170 staff.  

Joint administrator Lee Lockwood said: “Unfortunately, the group has suffered from the decline in the oil and gas sector over the past couple of years, and whilst seeking to diversify into other sectors, it suffered losses on two contracts from which its financial problems arose.  Significant interest in the group has been expressed by potential buyers or investors, but no sale or investment has been concluded to date.”

About The Author

Meet the Team

Bob is the managing partner in our Leeds office. Prior to joining the firm, he was a partner at Deloitte and Kroll and he has nearly 20 years’ restructuring and recovery experience. Bob qualified as an ACA in 1990 and is a Licensed Insolvency Practitioner. He has led numerous cases, both domestic and international, incorporating turnaround assignments, financial restructuring and insolvencies. 

Bob has experience across a broad range of industries including retail, manufacturing, distribution, construction, motor retailing and media.  His clients include banks, Asset Based Lenders (ABLs), venture capitalists, pension scheme trustees, corporates and government.

He has undertaken two major secondments to assist UK clearing banks, advising them on developing turnaround strategies for their clients in financial difficulty. 

More recently, Bob has been responsible for delivering a project with Clydesdale Bank aimed at tackling its distressed property portfolio. He led a team of 12 staff throughout the UK, working with the Bank staff to manage a portfolio of circa £800m of debt with over 1,000 properties. As part of this project, he formulated strategies to create consensual solutions between the customer and the bank as well as undertaking a significant number of LPA appointments in situations where enforcement action was required.

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