Online furniture retailer Made.com has officially been placed into administration with Next acquiring the brand and IP.
On 31 October, the Board of MDL, MADE’s operating subsidiary, notified MADE that it had resolved to file notice of its intention to appoint administrators.
Further to this, MDL has notified MADE that it has now appointed Zelf Hussain, Peter Dickens and Rachael Wilkinson of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as administrators of MDL on 8 November 2022.
Following their appointment, MDL acting by its administrators, has entered into an agreement with Next Retail Limited to acquire the brand, domain names and intellectual property of MDL for a sum of £3.4m.
Next confirmed in a statement: “The Company announces that it has agreed to acquire the brand name, domain names and intellectual property of Made.com Design Ltd from administrators for consideration of £3.4m.”
Other assets remaining in the estate will be realised by the administrators in due course and payments made to creditors in accordance with the statutory priority.
The Company’s ordinary shares were suspended from trading on the London Stock Exchange’s Main Market for listed securities on 1 November 2022. The Board currently expects that, in due course, the listing of the Company’s ordinary shares will be cancelled, any residual value will be distributed to the Company’s shareholders and the Company will be wound up.
Susanne Given, Chair of MADE, said in a statement: “Having run an extensive process to secure the future of the business, we are deeply disappointed that we have reached this point and how it will affect all our stakeholders, including employees, customers, suppliers and shareholders. We appreciate and deeply regret the frustration that MDL going into administration will have caused for everyone.
“I want to sincerely thank all our employees, customers, suppliers and partners for your support throughout the past 12 years and especially during this difficult time where we have tried so hard to find a workable solution for the Company and all its stakeholders.”
The appointment follows former CEO and co-founder Ning Li’s attempt to rescue the business, which can be read in full here.
