Buying assets from a liquidator: what you can buy and how to pay for it
Buying assets from a liquidator means buying equipment, stock or a brand, not the company or its debts. How the sales work, what to check and how to fund it.
Reading time5 min read
CategoryBusiness guides
Written byThe bizbritain team
Buying assets from a liquidator means buying a closed company's equipment, stock or brand, not the company itself. The company's debts stay behind with it. Sales usually move fast and come with few guarantees. So it pays to check what you are buying and to line up the money before you bid.
There may be more of these sales about. According to the Insolvency Service, 1,761 of the 1,882 company insolvencies in England and Wales in September 2026 were liquidations. Court-ordered liquidations were 25% higher than a year earlier.
Section 01
What does it mean when a company is in liquidation?
It means the company has stopped trading and is being closed down. A liquidator takes control of it. This is an authorised insolvency practitioner, or the official receiver if a court ordered the liquidation.
The liquidator's job is to sell what the company owns. The money goes to pay its creditors.
That is the big difference from an administration. In an administration, the business may still be trading and can sometimes be sold as a whole. If that is the situation you are looking at, our guide to buying a business in administration covers it. In a liquidation, the business has usually stopped, and what is for sale is its assets.
Section 02
How a liquidator sells the assets
Liquidators often use agents to value and sell assets. A sale can be by private offer, by tender or at auction.
They often want to sell quickly. Storing equipment costs money, and creditors are waiting to be paid.
Assets are usually sold as seen. Expect few or no promises about their condition.
Can a former director buy? Yes, but the old company's name comes with strict rules. A director of a liquidated company is banned for five years from using the same or a similar name, unless an exception applies. One exception is buying the business from the insolvency practitioner with the legally required notice. Take advice before you buy the name.
Section 03
What you get when buying assets from a liquidator
You are buying things, not the company. Its debts usually stay with the company in liquidation. It works much like an asset sale rather than a share sale.
Check each part of the deal before you bid:
Equipment and stock
Check the company actually owned them. Equipment on hire purchase or a lease may belong to the finance company, so it is not the liquidator's to sell.
The name, website and brand
These can often be bought. A former director must follow the name rules above.
Customer lists
Personal data comes with data protection duties. Ask a solicitor how you can use it.
Staff and premises
Employment and lease rules work differently in a liquidation than in an administration. Take legal advice if you want to keep staff or stay in the building.
Section 04
How to fund a fast asset purchase
Speed is the hard part. A liquidator may want an offer within days, and may not wait for a lender.
So work out the funding before you bid. The common options are:
Your own cash: This is the quickest, if you have it.
Asset finance: A lender funds the equipment and takes it as security. Some lenders will also refinance equipment you have just bought with cash.
A business loan: This can cover stock, a brand or a mix of assets that are hard to lend against.
Working capital: You will need money to restart, because buying the kit is only the first cost.
A lender will want to know what the assets are worth, what you will do with them and how the business will repay. A price from the liquidator's agent is a starting point, not proof of value.
A broker who arranges business acquisition finance can look at the deal across a wider range of lenders. We can tell you what is realistic before you bid. On advisory deals we take no commission from lenders, and you pay us nothing unless a lender issues an Agreement in Principle.
Have that conversation early, and ask a solicitor to check the sale terms at the same time.
This guide is general information, not financial advice. Applications are subject to status, affordability and lender criteria.
Got a question the guide didn’t answer? Talk to an advisor.
We’ve helped buyers fund deals from £25k to £10m across 100+ lenders. If you’ve read the guide and you’ve got a business in your sights, our advisors are on the phone now.