Westland Horticulture bought rival William Sinclair Holdings plc  yesterday after the administrators were called in at the troubled growing media group .

Northern Ireland-based Westland acquired the entire business and assets, including the new £50m Ellesmere facility, in a pre-pack deal which may see existing shareholders and many suppliers lose out.

Will Wright and Mark Orton of KPMG Restructuring were appointed joint administrators yesterday morning.

William Sinclair supplies a number of the leading retailers and large independent garden centres with products that include the J. Arthur Bowers’ and DeadFast brands. With headquarters in Lincoln, it employs 285 staff and has a number of smaller sites across the UK as well as the Ellesmere Port facility.

Will Wright said the cost of relocating the company’s principal operations to Ellesmere Port, and the dual-running costs incurred combined to impact the company’s bottom line.  “The board have been working hard over the summer to try and find a rescue solution but unfortunately there were ultimately no alternatives other than our appointment,” he said.

Dealing in Sinclair’s shares on the AIM was suspended earlier this week ahead of the rescue deal, which finally resolves Sinclair’s destiny after months of uncertainty.

Chairman Rupert King warned less than two weeks ago that the company was running out of cash and that talks with potential investors were not guaranteed to succeed.

The group had just reported a £5.3m increase in pre-tax losses to £3.6m, on revenues down £3m to £18.7m.

At the last quoted share price of 9.73p, William Sinclair would have been valued at less than £2m.

A statement from William Sinclair yesterday afernoon said: "The Board has exhausted a thorough process including an attempted share placing, transactions with trade and financial parties and disposals of individual assets but has been unsuccessful in obtaining the required additional funding. Therefore the Board has no alternative but to place the Company into Administration and accordingly has appointed Will Wright and Mark Orton of KPMG Restructuring as Joint Administrators."

Westland released the following official announcement late on Friday afternoon:

Westland says it’s ‘business as normal’ following its acquisition of one of the leading horticultural firms in the UK.

Westland Horticulture has acquired William Sinclair and has immediately taken them out of administration. The purchase includes the Ellesmere Port facility and additional manufacturing assets; Sinclair’s brands, J. Arthur Bowers, New Horizon, Growing Success and Deadfast, as well as Silverperl and professional growing media businesses.

This acquisition will bring much needed stability to William Sinclair’s business and brands starting from today. The focus in the short term will be to connect with all customers as well as to push forward with the exciting 2016 product plans due to be launched in September.

Edward Conroy, Managing Director at Westland Horticulture said: “We have always believed that Sinclair’s is an important part of our industry’s landscape, and we are fully committed to maintaining this for the long term.

“Sinclair’s is fundamentally a good business and our focus is to work together with all customers in the professional and consumer sectors to make the transition simple and clear to all involved. It is imperative that over the coming days we keep our lines of communication open with customers and stakeholders.

“Westland is focused on delivering a strong future for Sinclair’s business, infrastructure and brands, which can only thrive from being part of the Westland family.

“For now it’s very much business as usual for all concerned.”