The UK business and its European subsidiaries was purchased by Alchemy Partners and has since thrived.

In January 2002, The Company and its subsidiaries were acquired by Redac Limited through funding from Alchemy Partners.

This buy out was funded by Alchemy Partners.

Alchemy Partners is pressing for BMW to pay itup to $1 billion in net assets and a cash sweetener to take the plant, free of debt.

It was bought out in 2006 by Alchemy Partners amid competition from Regent Inns and Ultimate Leisure.

In May 2007 a consortium lead by Alchemy Partners purchased the company for €70m from the Brown Thomas Group.

The negotiations follow the collapse last week of a near-completed deal between BMW and a British venture capital firm, Alchemy Partners.

Alchemy Partners declined a request for an interview.

Neither Alchemy Partners nor BMW would provide a full explanation of the cause of the breakdown.

Purchased by Alchemy Partners, in 2007 it acquired the assets of Touchbases' Avaya business to expand its footprint and extend into enterprise communications.