UK mobile phone developer Sendo has gone into administration, while the key assets of the firm are being bought by Motorola.

The Birmingham-based firm said the High Court had ordered the firm into administration, with Simon Appell and Alastair Beveridge of Kroll acting as joint administrators.

Motorola said it will be acquiring the UK and Singapore R&D teams, along with the design and test equipment used by those teams. The teams comprise some 200 engineers, 170 of which are in the UK.

"Motorola has had tremendous success in Europe over the last 18 months. We're going to keep up the momentum – and this team will be a vital part of that," said Ron Garriques, president of Motorola Mobile Devices.

Sendo sold some five million phones last year and had revenue of around $420m.

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