MBO saves Epoch

Buy-Out Agreement: management fights off competition

The management of legal IT company Epoch has beaten off competition from one of its main rivals to complete a buy-out of the company and save it from potential liquidation.Divorce Online, the biggest divorce Web site in Europe, enquired about buying Epoch's Desktop Lawyer service - which it saw as its main competitor in on-line divorce work - but these hopes have been dashed after 27 hours of non-stop negotiations led to an agreement between the management and liquidators over the weekend.The liquidators - insolvency practitioner David Rubin and Tony Supperstone of accountants BDO Stoy Hayward - were considering the company's options on creditors' instructions following Epoch's failure to secure second-round funding.Solicitor Richard Cohen, the co-owner of Epoch, said: 'It was very important for us to buy all the assets and subsidiaries as we have managed to keep all 30 staff with the company.

Matters were out of our control last week, but now we are back in the driving seat and all sites are back up and running.' The sites stopped working for a period of days while the company's future was uncertain.Mark Keenan, operations director of Divorce Online, which had offered all Desktop Lawyer users a free switch to its site, said they had not pushed ahead with buying because of a lack of information on revenues.

'It would have been a shame to see it go, though,' he added, 'as it has been a guiding light in legal services on the Web.'Mr Rubin said: 'It was the best deal for the creditors, but at the end of the day it was only game in town.

I am absolutely delighted - I have worked with 20 or 30 dot-coms this year and this is only the second one we have managed to save.'Andrew Towler