Thomas Fish Landed By Secret Millionaire

East Midlands property developer Chek Whyte has fought off Rok and Sol Construction to buy Thomas Fish.

The Nottinghamshire-based Thomas Fish, one of the companies alleged to have been involved in anti-competitive tendering practices by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), has debts of more than £5m, its administrators say.

The firm dropped into administration on Monday, just days after the OFT published the names of 112 companies it alleges are involved in either cover pricing or bid-rigging.

Administrator Mazars said that, "significant cash flow problems were to blame. In particular, one client withholding a £1.4m bill was one of the main reasons for the firm's demise."

The entrepreneur, who once appeared on Channel 4 TV programme 'The Secret Millionaire' is reported to have paid less than £500,000 for the company's forward order book.He also revealed that he would re-hire 60 of the 85 staff that were sent home after the company went into administration last week.