Lawyers from Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF), Davis Polk and Eversheds Sutherland have earned advisory roles on the administration and £3.4m sale of online retailer Made.com to Next.
Last week, Made.com filed notice of its intention to appoint administrators, which saw HSF drafted in. The HSF team was led by London restructuring partner John Chetwood with corporate support from fellow London partners Ben Ward and Caroline Rae. Since the administration, 320 Made.com jobs have been axed as the company has collapsed.
Today (9 November), Next announced it is purchasing Made.com’s brand name, domain names and IP, but not its inventory or staff. Administrators PwC will take control of the remaining assets.
Eversheds has been enlisted as Next’s counsel, with a team spearheaded by corporate partner Robin Johnson, insolvency partner David Gray, privacy partner Dave Hughes and a team of associates. Davis Polk is advising Made.com in a corporate capacity – the US firm’s London team has historically represented the retailer, most notably on its £775.3m IPO in 2021.
While the sale will preserve Made.com’s brand, it will do little to console those affected by the mass job cuts. Jeremy Whiteson, restructuring and insolvency partner at Fladgate, outlines the lack of appetite for saving jobs: ‘Buyers feel that the costs of staff, buildings and infrastructure make a turnaround much harder. The intangible property in the business freed from these costs seems a better proposition for business owners. That leaves employees stranded.
‘The position is worsened by the TUPE regulations, which are designed to protect employees and transfer their contracts to a new owner of the business but can make it hard for a buyer to take some but not all of a business’ staff without assuming the whole of the payroll liability.’
After nearly eight years in the role, earlier this year Made.com’s general counsel Lisa Gan Tomlins announced she would be stepping down from her position. Tomlins became Made.com’s first-ever GC in 2014 after she joined the company from online takeaway giant JustEat.
