Britannia AuctionsLiquidation and insolvency asset sales in Coventry
Coventry's smaller engineering firms sit one or two tiers below the vehicle plants, and their fortunes follow the programmes those plants run. A model change, a delayed launch, a lost tender or a customer's own administration can push a component maker at Binley or a tooling shop on Bayton Road into a formal process within weeks. The office holder then has a unit full of specialised equipment, a landlord counting the days to the next quarter, lenders asking about their machines and staff who know the tooling better than anyone.
We take the instruction from the administrator or liquidator, or from a lender or landlord with the right to possession. We attend as soon as the office holder needs us, secure and schedule the site with photographs and serial numbers, sort customer tooling from company assets and give a written opinion of value. The sale is an online timed auction as a rule. Use the contact form to tell us what has been appointed and where the assets are.
When a vehicle programme ends and the suppliers follow
Automotive supply chain failures come in clusters. When a programme is cut, several small firms in the same estate can enter administration in the same month, and their assets compete with each other in the market. How much similar plant is on the market at the same time bears on what a machining centre or an injection moulding machine makes, and it is part of the advice we give on timing.
We also expect the customer to be involved. Vehicle makers and their tier ones often hold ownership of the tooling and the fixtures on the shop floor, and may want to move production to another supplier quickly. We work with the office holder to identify that tooling from the drawings and the tool tags and release it against a receipt. The sale is kept to what the company actually owns. The company's own machines, material stock, inspection equipment and racking are then catalogued online for the whole UK, with the engineering trade at Nuneaton, Rugby, Leamington Spa and Hinckley near enough to attend the viewing day.
Test rigs, prototype tooling and battery equipment
The city's test and development firms, and the newer electric vehicle and battery businesses, fail with equipment that does not fit a standard auction category. Dynamometers, environmental chambers, vibration rigs, battery cyclers and prototype build fixtures have a value that depends on who else can use them. We describe each rig by maker, capacity, year and control system, with photographs of the panels and calibration labels, and tell the office holder where we think the market is.
Battery equipment carries its own hazards. Live cells and part built packs are not sold in a general auction and need specialist handling that the office holder must arrange. The chambers, cyclers, racks and handling equipment around them are sold once the site is made safe. Access for the buyers' hauliers is checked on our first visit, and the vehicle route, the door dimensions and any lifting required go in the catalogue. Heavy rigs are collected under a method statement in a booked slot.
What these sales can include
- Machine tools and production lines
- Finished stock and work in progress
- Raw materials and components
- Commercial vehicles and vans
- Plant and site equipment
- Forklift trucks and pallet trucks
- Racking and warehouse fittings
- Office furniture and IT equipment
- Catering and bar equipment
- Fixtures and fittings
- Tooling, spares and consumables
- Shop fittings and displays
How the auction runs
Insolvency assets are usually sold by online timed auction. The catalogue is photographed on site, listed with estimates and opened for bidding for a period agreed with the office holder, usually one to two weeks. A viewing day is held at the premises. Lots are offered as seen under the auction terms, and buyers are expected to inspect before bidding.
Buyers pay the hammer price plus a buyer's premium, with VAT charged where it applies and shown separately on the invoice. Payment is taken before collection. Buyers arrange and pay for the removal of their lots during an agreed collection window, using specialist movers where the weight and dimensions call for them. Our staff supervise collection so the premises are protected and every removal is signed off.
Private treaty is used for individual assets where a direct sale may produce more than the auction, subject to the office holder's approval.
The liquidation and insolvency asset sales page covers who instructs the sale, what an insolvency practitioner needs from us, securing the site, timescales, for directors.
Questions about selling in Coventry
- The unit has lithium battery packs and test cells in it. Will you sell those?
Not as general auction lots. Cells and packs, especially part built or damaged ones, need specialist storage and a carrier approved for that class of goods, and the office holder has to arrange that through a contractor before we can work safely around them. We record what is there on our first visit and flag it in our report. The test chambers, cyclers, tooling and benches are sold once the cells have gone, and the catalogue says the site has been cleared.
- The landlord wants the unit at Binley back by the quarter day. Is that realistic?
We propose a timetable rather than promise one. The visit, the cataloguing, the bidding period and the collection days each depend on the number of lots, the access and how much of the plant needs specialist removal, and we work the dates back from the quarter day at the first visit. Where the date cannot be met from the unit, the smaller assets can come to our own premises and be sold there, leaving only the heavy items at Binley under a short agreed licence.
More questions about insolvency asset sales
Related services
Guides
- What insolvency practitioners need from an auctioneer
For office holders realising physical assets. Covers the instruction letter, the asset schedule and valuation basis, retention of title, finance checks, site security, health and safety during the sale, and the reconciliation you need for the file.