Sheldrake back in control of EAG

Norman Sheldrake is back in control of English Architectural Glazing, the company he founded 17 years ago.

Sheldrake sold EAG to Haymills in April 1999. Earlier this month Haymills called in the receivers (CJ, issue 7 June) after deciding not to inject any more money into the troubled firm, whose audited figures for the 15 months to March 1999 showed a pre-tax loss of £3.6m.

Andrew Spooner, EAG's operations director, said this week: "When we got over the shock, five of us immediately contacted our boss to persuade him to buy back the business.

"He agreed and we wrote to the receivers to tell them that we fully supported Norman's bid. We have restructured the business and so far 62 of the threatened 150 jobs have been saved. Plans are under way to bring in new orders and rebuild client confidence."

Sheldrake is buying the assets and a number of existing construction contracts for a total cost of £5m. "We expect to turn over £9m in the first year," he said. "I am glad to be back with my old management team."

Law firm Taylor Vinters put the deal together within four working days. Its finance partner Steve Sharratt said: "There was strong competition to buy the company." Taylor Vinters is also defending Sheldrake against a legal action by Haymills over the sale of EAG in 1999.