Weight Partners buys rental firm Boxclever

The TV and white goods rental business Boxclever has been bought by an investment company for an undisclosed sum, in a deal that safeguards more than 300 jobs.

Weight Partners has purchased all the shares of Boxclever – which was created in 2000 by the merger of Radio Rentals and Granada Rentals – from the US private equity firms Cerberus and Fortress Investment Group. Boxclever no longer has stores and operates an online model that delivers sales of more than £40m. It has nearly 300,000 units rented out to customers.

Weight Partners said it will provide financial and operational support to Boxclever, which will allow the management team to "concentrate on continuing to deliver a profitable business".

Jim Weight, the managing partner of Weight Partners, said: "Although a declining industry, we see a lot of value to be driven from continuing to serve existing customers to ensure their continued satisfaction with Boxclever and its service to them."

Mr Weight previously worked with Fortress to structure the £153m buyout from administration of Boxclever in 2005, then the UK's largest ever domestic insolvency.

Before 2005, Boxclever led to difficulties at WestLB and hit the reputation of its star investment banker Robin Saunders, who introduced it to the German bank. Boxclever contributed to a loss at West LB of €1.7bn (£1.5m) in 2003 and forced it to make a €650m bad debt charge.