Seligo parent company Unpackaged Holidays has gone into administration, but is understood to have continued trading following a so-called pre-pack sale.
Administrator Conrad Beighton, of chartered accountant Shipleys, confirmed the company went into administration on Tuesday March 17 following an application last week. Seligo is a trading name of Unpackaged Holidays. An official statement was due on Wednesday.
A pre-pack sale can be used by a company experiencing financial difficulties to save the business and secure jobs. It involves a sale of the business and assets to a third party, existing management or so-called phoenix company, which is often set up and managed by existing directors or management prior to the appointment of an administrator.
Beighton said a specialist firm of travel accountants had sought expressions of interest from businesses that might want to acquire the company’s assets. He declined to give details of the sale.
Seligo was bought in February 2008 by The Unpackaged Group, part of Alpha Prospects, which has ABTA director Steven Freudmann as non-executive chairman. Freudmann stepped down as director of subsidiary Unpackaged Holidays last week, claiming a conflict of interest.
ABTA has confirmed that Seligo is appealing after being fined by ABTA’s code of conduct committee for an unspecified breach. The hearing is due to be heard on Thursday March 19.