Two hundreds jobs have been rescued at a failed Bradford packaging firm with a multi-million pound management buy-out.

The management team of the packaging division of T&D Industries at Laisterdyke has agreed a deal which will save a total of 250 jobs - the other 50 are at the firm's Liverpool depot.

Corporate finance advisor Ford Campbell has brought in three financial companies to provide £10 million backing for the buy-out which was headed by the division's managing director, Mike Lynch.

He said today: "T&D Packaging is a 100-year-old business with strong ties to customers and suppliers and I am delighted to have completed the deal which will not only save employment for hundreds of people but will also continue to offer our customers the very best quality of service."

The company provides steel drums for the petrochemical industry.

The deal means that four of the six companies in the T&D Industries group have been sold and 485 jobs saved.

The first company to be sold was the Heavy Waste Division, which is based in Kinsey near Wakefield, bought by Derby firm Skip Unit Sales. Shortly after, the two T&D Plastech divisions in Rotherham and Bridgend were sold for an undisclosed sum.

The administrators are still in negotiation with prospective buyers for the sale of the remaining businesses which are T&D Bison, also based in Bradford, and T&D Automotive which is based in Luton.

The group was put into the hands of administrative receivers Roger Marsh and Neville Khan of Pricewaterhouse-Coopers in Leeds last October.

Roger Marsh said: "I am delighted to have concluded a going concern sale of the packaging business. I am sure suppliers and customers, who have been hugely supportive of our efforts to preserve this business, will welcome the sale."

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