Parts of the business and assets of Mercedes truck and van dealership Roanza have been sold to Estar Truck and Van, saving around 340 jobs.
Sarah O’Toole and Jason Bell of Grant Thornton UK LLP in Manchester were appointed joint administrators to Roanza Limited and its subsidiary Premier Vehicle Rental Limited on 8 September 2020.
Based in Warrington, Roanza operated full service Mercedes truck and van dealerships under franchise from eight sites, predominately in the North West.
The company suffered losses in 2019, which were exacerbated during lockdown.
Having secured the required franchises with Mercedes, Estar will continue to operate a range of services across the five sites at Trafford Park, Liverpool, Warrington, Deeside and Stoke-on-Trent.
The sale did not include the company’s operations at sites in Doncaster, East Manchester and one of the two sites previously operated in Liverpool, which will all cease to trade with immediate effect.
Around 80 positions have been made redundant at these three sites, around half of which were already furloughed
Doncaster-based Premier Vehicle Rental Limited operates a separate van and truck leasing business, with a fleet of over 900 vehicles which was not included in the sale.
The rental company employed seven staff, a number of whom have been retained by the company in administration to assist with the realisation of assets for the benefit of the creditors.
Sarah O’Toole, advisory partner at Grant Thornton said: “Whilst it is always difficult when any elements of a business cease to trade and redundancies need to be made, we are delighted to have secured the sale of operations and the five larger sites and the continued employment of the majority of staff.”
