Opto company slashes 20 jobsChris DruceKPMG, the corporate recovery firm, has failed to find a buyer for Swindon-based Optical Micro Devices (OMD), which was placed into administration early this month.
Following a further business review, KPMG has now made 20 of the remaining 40 staff at the company redundant.
"Unfortunately a buyer for the business has not been secured, making it necessary to review staff levels," said Richard Hill, KPMG recovery partner.
Despite being described as a complete business in need of a patient investor, the failure to find a buyer for OMD means that the company now faces being broken up.
"It looks likely that the company will enter a de-commissioning phase with a view to an orderly disposal of assets, likely to be via an auction later in the year," said Hill.
OMD was set up in 1999 and manufactures products for the optical communications market. Despite $35m of funding through the years since, company sales failed to take off, causing investors to turn their backs on the company due to its high cash burn rate, which resulted in its current difficulties.
KPMG had hoped to find investors from within the electronics industry who would appreciate the cyclical nature of the business and invest for the long-term.
At the time of the original announcement, Peter Rilett, a KPMG recovery partner, said: "The wafers the company offers are unique in Europe and they have a good manufacturing process. Now we need to find someone with faith that the market will get better."