Restructuring Dyson sells US pellet company to management

The Sheffield-based company, which last week confirmed its intention to de-list from the London Stock Exchange and hand banks a controlling stake, said it has sold its pellet company, B4C, which is based in the United States.

Dyson said its subsidiary Millennium Materials Inc sold the business to Millennitek, a company created by B4C's management.

The deal was for a token $10, and is the latest in a string of

disposals as the group tries to restructure its debt.

Dyson said 12 of B4C's 14 employees will be retained. Unaudited figures show B4C made a $302,000 loss in the nine months to the end of 2009, with gross assets of $722,000. That compared with gross assets of $1.2m in September 2008 and a $630,000 half-year profit.

The company also revealed it will close its Chinese artificial coal and logs plant. The Dyson Ceramic Products factory, based in Tianjin, makes heat-resistant products used in domestic gas fires. Dyson said it would soon apply to authorities to liquidate the company.

Dyson entered the recession with a heavy debt burden and significant exposure to the slumping automotive industry.

Last week the company revealed plans which, if approved by shareholders, would grant the 200-year-old company a lifeline.

Following a de-listing, it plans to give its banks Lloyds TSB and Svenska Handelsbanken a 51 per cent stake, in return for wiping out 35m of its debt.

If shareholders approve the plans, they will be left with only 12 per cent of Dyson's equity. However, if they do not back the de-listing and subsequent debt-for-equity swap, Dyson is likely to fall into insolvency, leaving shareholders with nothing.

The company, which started life in 1810 with a ceramics factory, would then focus mainly on its Saffil fibre operation as a private company. This supplies engineered fibre products into a number of sectors, including iron and steel, and has benefited from a recovery in automotive markets in recent months.

In February Dyson sold Dewsbury-based Precision Ceramics to a management-led team for 100,000. The business now trades as Magma Ceramics and 24 staff transferred across. Precision makes products used in the glass and metals industries.

Late last year Dyson sold its loss-making kiln furniture business to management for 1. The Stoke-on-Trent business designs and manufactures kiln furniture for the ceramics industry, and the deal saw the 70 staff transfer across.