Luxury boat builder Fairline has entered administration in the midst of claims it was failing to pay contributions into the company pension scheme.

Entering administration means the firm now faces the prospect of more than 460 jobs being lost, union Unite said.

The union has subsequently called for an investigation into the ‘secretive machinations’ of private equity firms.

News of the firm’s administrative position comes just a day after it was revealed the company had been accused by Unite of taking pension contributions from the wages of its 468-strong workforce, but failing to pay into the scheme itself.

Fairline Boats was acquired by Wessex Bristol from private equity fund Better Capital just two months before it went into administration.

The union said the future of the Northamptonshire based company remains ‘cloaked in management silence and evasion’ since it was taken over by Wessex Bristol.

Unite regional officer Mick Orpin commented that the two months that Wessex Bristol was in charge was marked by “secretiveness and evasiveness” and even requests for meetings with management by the local MP, Tom Pursglove “fell on deaf ears”.

“What has happened to the loyal and dedicated workforce shows that they have been victims of the secretive machinations of unfettered capitalism.

“This is completely unacceptable and Unite calls on BIS to hold an inquiry into the business activities of private equity firms, with special reference to Fairline Boats, a well-known Northamptonshire firm, established in 1963, which has now gone into administration.”

Orpin said he would be at Oundle and Corby sites on Tuesday (8 December) to talk to workforce.

“'We will be talking to the administrator this afternoon (3 December) to see if a buyer can be found and jobs saved. We understand that there are orders in the pipeline.

“Basically, there is a sound business here, but it has been messed about by the management of Wessex Bristol who have a lot of serious questions to answer in relation to their conduct.”

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