Fleet management firm Rivus has been rescued out of administration by the Metropolitan Police Service.
Administrators at PwC secured the deal which safeguards 165 jobs and ensures crucial services can continue to be delivered by the Met. 55 members of staff were however immediately made redundant.
Headquartered in Solihull, Rivus provided fleet management and repairs and maintenance services for fleets of light commercial vehicles. The Met was Rivus’ main customer, representing over 85% of the business.
With over 43,000 officers and staff, the MPS is the UK’s largest police force. It has more than 5,200 fleet assets on the roads in Greater London, travelling 52 million miles each year.
Administrators Tim Higgins, Jane Steer and Zelf Hussain from PwC were appointed on June 21.
Higgins said: ”We are pleased to have successfully secured a transaction which safeguards 165 jobs, despite Rivus having suffered the loss of a material customer at the end of last year.
“We will now focus our efforts to ensure a smooth continuation of any services required post-sale, to both seek to minimise disruption for non-Met customers, as well as support the Met in any transitional services required.”
The deal comes after Rivus embarked on a major restructuring to cut costs after it lost its contract with BT Group to Holman.
It closed 48 of its light commercial vehicle garages, and cut its existing networking by more than half from 78 to 30 sites according to Fleet News.
The sale has no impact on the trading business of Rivus’ sister Pullman Fleet Solutions, trading as Rivus HGV.