THE jobs of 55 employees have been saved following the sale of Allbuild Supplies Ltd.

The builders' merchant business, which is based in Warrington with operations in Bolton, Macclesfield and Widnes, was placed into administrative receivership in mid-November. A team including Alan Green and Alf Seddon of Allbuild's former management and a new buy-in team headed by Kevin Turland have purchased the business for an undisclosed sum.

The investment was backed by Innvotec Ltd and two major banks.

Mr Steve Ellis, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers and joint administrative receiver of the company, said: "We received a significant amount of interest from both local and national competitors, reflecting on-going consolidation in the industry."

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