TROUBLED Winchester based Eurotel Telecoms has been bought by the Surrey communications group Dataflex Design Communications.

Less than two years ago the Winchester company was acclaimed as being one of the brightest stars in the South, but ran into problems when sales fell in the midst of increasing turmoil in international telecoms markets.

Receivers Duncan Swift and Malcolm Shierson, for business recovery and re-organisation specialists Grant Thornton were called in by bankers a week ago at the request of the directors.

They concluded a deal with Dataflex in an all-night negotiating session on Friday, but not before many of the workforce had been made redundant.

Mr Swift, the joint receiver from Grant Thornton's Southampton office said: "I am pleased to confirm the sale to Dataflex at a good price which reflects the strength of Eurotel's core underlying business and assets. The sale secures the jobs of Eurotel's 23 remaining employees, and I am sure that they and Dataflex will do well as the clear synergies between the two businesses yield future growth.''

The group, was a leading supplier for niche intelligent routing equipment for telephone calls in western Europe, and had invested heavily for anticipated growth after a spectacular rise put it among the top performing companies in the South, and earned it a place among finalists in the Daily Echo KPMG Hampshire Business Awards less than two years ago.

Its new owner, Dataflex, is one of the leading European suppliers of innovative access solutions for alternative telecom operators bought the assets and customer base of Eurotel Telecom for a consideration of £800,000 plus working capital, making a total consideration of £1.8 million.

Eurotel's existing clients include some of the leading European alternative telecom operators in the business communications sector.

Dataflex chief executive Jacob van Houdt, said: "This is a good opportunity for us, both in the short term and strategically. The products and customer base we are gaining will give us near term benefits in the multiline call routing area, particularly outside western Europe.

"There is real synergy between our existing resources and the development and sales resources we are acquiring from Eurotel, and this will also allow us to bolster our other organic initiatives in the area of broadband access."

He said the purchase provides Dataflex with two major benefits; firstly, in the short term, it strengthens the company's position in multiline business, both in new and existing markets; and the addition of Eurotel's customer base and development resources provides strategic benefits.

Eurotel's existing clients include some of the leading European alternative telecom operators in the business communications sector.