The administrators of OHG Accommodation say they have had approaches from potential buyers but are seeking more interest in the failed bed bank.
An email, seen by Travel Weekly, was sent at the weekend to potential prospects by Charterfields on behalf of the administrator Paul Daly.
Daly said an attempt to sell one of OHG’s main assets, its £19 million of forward bookings, to Hotelbeds had failed ahead of his appointment so this was not part of the deal.
All staff were made redundant, so the remaining assets for sale include a licence to operate from offices in Crawley and Rawtenstall, IT systems and consumer and trade data.
“What’s left is basically the infrastructure which is still there for someone to walk in and start work,” said Daly.
OHG, the main trading arm of Holiday Brokers parent On Holiday Group, entered into administration on March 20 blaming withheld VAT by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.
The Charterfields letter refers to software platforms the firm “heavily invested in” and the accumulated data “which, it is believed, could provide substantial benefit to an acquirer”.
OHG kept its data on its own servers hosted by a third party, and this included contact information relating to EU and non-EU destinations plus UK, German and Spanish agencies.
Although its software platform was licensed, the administrator said the XML code providing connectivity to customers was owned by the business.
OHG had also developed its own accounting system which is also for sale, along with the intellectual property rights of the business.
Daly said that because there had been attempts to sell OHG prior to its collapse, interest had already been generated from potential buyers.
He said the administrator was looking to sell all the assets as a package but added interested parties would have to move quickly to realise their full value.
“The assets will dissipate pretty quickly due to the cyclical nature of the holiday market. There comes a point where people have done their booking for this year.
“It’s common knowledge all around the travel industry that the company assets have been for sale for a while now.
“There is maybe someone who is willing to take a punt on it, so we have gone back to the same people.”
The £4.5 million said to be owed to OHG by HMRC following the tax authority’s defeat in the Medhotels case is not part of the deal, Daly confirmed
He said this remains the property of OHG and will have to be reclaimed by the administrator to distribute among creditors.
Daly said at this stage he did not know how easy it would be to reclaim that cash but that OHG had legal advice that suggested it was a fait accompli.
“It could be long-winded, but my experience is HMRC are pretty good if there’s been a legal precedent set, they hold their hands up and respect the law.”