The Chinese manufacturer Hisense has snapped up the brands that were previously owned and distributed by the failed HI Group.
In a statement from administrators Ernst & Young, it was noted that Hisense UK Limited, a subsidiary of the Chinese Hisense company, bought the rights to the Frigidaire and Fridgemaster brands previously owned by the HI Group for £632,000 which includes the rights to the two brand names, stock in hand as well as the transfer of eleven employees under TUPE.
Hisense will also take over and honour existing warranties on products already sold. Whether this means that subcontracted service engineers to the former Independent Service (ISDAL) part of the HI Group business will be paid for work carried out remains at this point unclear. There have been numerous reports of disgruntled unpaid engineers threatening to send invoices to end users for repair work which they have not been paid for.
The value of liability for warranty repairs is estimated to be in the region of one million pounds.
We are led to believe that Hisense was the largest supplier to both brands, producing the refrigeration products for each.
Ernst & Young reported that no other offers were received for the brands and that the whitegoods division of HI Group had suffered “significant” losses in previous years.