Armadilla, a Scottish manufacturer of modular ‘pods’ used as offices and leisure accommodation, has been acquired from the administrator by a German company.

The business and its assets of the Bonnyrigg firm will be transferred to Hoffbauer Holding which is looking for larger premises in order to scale up production. The sale includes all of the Armdilla name, design rights and trademark.

Blair Nimmo and Alistair McAlinden from Interpath Advisory were appointed joint administrators to Armadilla Limited on 20 December and received a competitive leve of interest.

Mr Nimmo, chief executive of Interpath Advisory, said: “In marketing the business for sale, we were able to use the strength of the Interpath network both across the UK and overseas to draw significant interest from a number of trade players and investors, which culminated in the sale to Hoffbauer.

“The competitive nature of the sales process is testament to the product design, quality of workmanship, strong forward order book and dedicated management team at Armadilla.”

Alistair McAlinden, Interpath managing director and joint administrator, added: “We understand that Hoffbauer is in the process of securing larger premises in the Midlothian area, and in time, intends to scale up production.

“This inward investment is great news for the Scottish economy and we look forward to seeing the business grow in the future.”

Jens Hoffbauer, founder of Hoffbauer Holding, said: “This is a really exciting acquisition for us. The strength of the Armadilla brand, coupled with its innovative product design, makes me confident that we can work with our customers to help deliver future success for the business.

“We’ve already begun taking orders, and we look forward to supporting the local economy as we scale up production in the months ahead.”

The firm was founded in 2010 by Archie Hunter, and his son Ross Hunter. It had built a strong order book, with significant projects in the pipeline in Scotland, the Algarve, the US and Dubai.

It won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the Innovation category as recently as 2020 and at the time employed 40 staff.

However, it experienced significant cashflow challenges as a result of order deferrals in the wake of the pandemic, the rising cost of raw materials and the cost and time burden of exporting to the EU.