Luxury homewares and furniture retailer Smallbone has been put into pre-pack administration and bought by Canburg, a company owned by Leo Caplan.

The deal saved 400 jobs at Smallbone which comprises subsidiary companies Smallbone Devizes and Mark Williamson Furniture. The sale also protects customer deposits taken by the retailer prior to the administration.

Earlier this month, Smallbone announced that it had suspended shares on the AIM market while it sought clarification of its funding situation and finished a strategic review.

In an announcement on the Stock Exchange today, the retailer said: ”The board has vigorously explored the options available but it has become clear that none of the options being explored would result in any value being attributed to the ordinary shares, and no offer has been received for the ordinary shares. Accordingly, Smallbone plc is no longer in an offer period”.

Rob Lewis and Mark Shires of PricewaterhouseCoopers were appointed as joint administrators.

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