2e2 finally ceases to exist - with gaping £257m shortfall owed to creditors

2e2 Group, 2e2 Holdings and 2e2 Investments have all been dissolved, according to papers filed by FTI Consulting

Bankrupt systems integrator 2e2, which left many of its customers unable to access their data when it went bust in 2013, has finally ceased to exist - leaving a "significant shortfall" in paying back secured creditors the £257.2m that they are owed.

The company's administrator FTI Consulting has filed papers to Companies House that show that 2e2 Group, 2e2 Holdings and 2e2 Investments had all dissolved.

In what it called its last progress report, the administrator said that the only classes of preferential creditor are employees in respect of certain claims in relation to arrears of wages, holiday and pensions contributions, as has previously been communicated to employees.

It is unlikely that contractors would be able to claim for their work, however. One such contractor, Arnold Foster, told Computing when 2e2 first went into administration, that he had failed to receive his pay and watched from the sidelines as employees at the firm were similarly treated.

"No notice, no pay for the month... I think they've broken every law going now," he said.

Although FTI Consulting is not aware of any preferential creditor claims against any of the companies, if there were any, no dividend would be expected to be available to preferential creditors of any of the companies, as floating charge realisations have not exceeded the administration costs in any of the estates.

2e2, which had provided IT managed services and integrated technology solutions across the UK, Ireland, Spain, Benelux, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and the US, plunged into administration in January 2013.

The vast majority of the company's 2,319 staff were made redundant, but through a sale of some of its companies, many employees were given a lifeline. O2, which worked with 2e2 to create O2 Unify, hired 107 employees after taking over 2e2's managed services business, for example, and many of 2e2's delivery and support team staff joined G3 Global, after the company completed a cash-funded acquisition of former 2e2 company Diagonal Consulting.