The Metropolitan Police Service has agreed a deal for the majority of business and assets of Rivus Fleet Solutions, which collapsed into administration last week.
The deal safeguards 165 jobs and secures the delivery of crucial services to the Met – which was Rivus’ biggest customer, accounting for more than 85% of business.
Administrators at PwC said they would now work to focus efforts on seeking to minimise disruption for non-Met customers.
Headquartered in Birmingham, Rivus provided fleet management and repairs and maintenance services for LCV fleets.
The company was first established in 2002 as BT Fleet Solutions, the inhouse fleet maintenance provider for BT Group, and was divested to private equity firm Aurelius in 2019 in line with the telecoms giant’s decision to focus on core business.
BT Fleet Solutions managed more than 80,000 vehicles for over 30 blue chip customers across diversified industries at the time of its rebrand as Rivus in late 2019.
However, it was hit by the loss of the BT fleet management business in September 2023, when Holman won the deal for the group’s 37,000 commercial vehicles, marking one of the biggest fleet management deals in history. Rivus said at the time it was not renewing its partnership with BT “as it was not financially viable to do so”.
This forced the fleet solutions firm to embark on a major restructure of its LCV operations and network, closing 48 LCV garages “to reduce its heavy cost base relating to legacy business systems, ageing garage facilities, and a complex people structure”.
While Rivus won the Met Police fleet maintenance and repair contract on 1 November 2023, encompassing 3,700 emergency response, support and general-purpose vehicles, it continued to face tough conditions, and PwC’s Tim Higgins, Jane Steer and Zelf Hussain were appointed as joint administrators on 21 June.
Tim Higgins, joint administrator and director, PwC said: “We are pleased to have successfully secured a transaction which safeguards 165 jobs, despite Rivus having suffered the loss of a material customer at the end of last year.
“We will now focus our efforts to ensure a smooth continuation of any services required post-sale, to both seek to minimise disruption for non-Met customers, as well as support the Met in any transitional services required.”
The sale has no impact on the trading business of Rivus’ sister business, Pullman Fleet Solutions Limited, trading as Rivus HGV.
