LONDON, September 8 /PRNewswire/ --

- Convenient One-Stop Shop Will Attract Serious Buyers Looking to Acquire
Struggling Businesses

At a time when business failures are expected to rise dramatically,
IP-BID.com aims to transform the process of marketing distressed businesses
and assets by matching buyers and sellers in a dedicated online marketplace.
The unique service has been trialled with insolvency specialists with
businesses to sell during the summer and from today it is being targeted at
buyers, including entrepreneurs, private equity firms, venture capitalists
and companies seeking to grow through acquisition.

IP-BID.com allows licensed insolvency practitioners to post details
online of companies that could be sold as going concerns, while active buyers
register in advance the kind of businesses they are looking to acquire.
Registered buyers are matched automatically to appropriate opportunities as
they are posted and relevant buyers are emailed information on the specific
businesses. Details of buyers expressing an interest are sent to the
insolvency practitioner handling each business, who can then follow up
directly.

This can happen ideally in a matter of minutes - all online - compared
with days or weeks using traditional methods. The corporate recovery and
insolvency sector is highly regulated and insolvency practitioners have a
duty to maximise value when selling a business and assets on behalf of
creditors. Tracking down serious buyers in sometimes unfamiliar business
categories takes time and money, inevitably eroding funds available to
creditors.

"At present it can be difficult to justify the high cost and slow
response times of advertising in financial or trade journals, particularly
for a small or medium sized business and assets," says IP-BID.com's Chief
Executive David Dalton. "Therefore in many cases potentially viable
businesses are sold on to the former management without the benefit of fully
testing the market or they are simply broken up and sold piecemeal.

"IP-BID.com opens up new markets, giving active buyers greater access to
keenly-priced opportunities. For instance, a customer list and telephone
number for a small business could be bought by a competitor many miles away
who would otherwise not have known it was available."

There is additional pressure to sell a business and assets within a tight
timeframe - sometimes within days or even hours when existing value may
otherwise diminish. This has led to increasing numbers of so-called
'pre-pack' sales out of administrations - the controversial practice of
lining up a preferred buyer ahead of the formal appointment of an insolvency
practitioner. Pre-packs are "under a lot of scrutiny", according to Alchemy
Partners' Jon Moulton. The outspoken private equity firm boss told licensed
trade paper The Morning Advertiser recently: "Not getting the best value back
for the assets is the danger."

David Dalton observes: "IP-BID.com will help to bring more transparency
to this often misunderstood practice. Insolvency practitioners can now test
the market quickly and cost-effectively before or after a formal appointment.
By casting the net more widely among active buyers, they can be confident
that the deal being done is the best reasonably obtainable."

There is no doubt that worsening economic conditions will create many
more opportunities to buy distressed businesses and assets at sensible
prices. The launch of IP-BID.com's streamlined service is well timed to help
cope with this increase.

The number of companies facing "critical problems" surged by 29% between
the first and second quarter of the year as tightening credit conditions
continued to bite, according to Begbies Traynor, the corporate insolvency and
restructuring specialist. According to the latest official figures from the
Insolvency Service, company liquidations in the second quarter of 2008 were
up 11.6% on the previous quarter and 15% higher than the same period last
year, while administrations were also up sharply.

About IP-BID.com

IP-BID.com (http://www.ip-bid.com) is operated by IP-BID Limited and was
established in 2008 to match buyers and insolvency practitioners selling
distressed businesses and assets in a specialised online insolvency
marketplace for the UK. Registration is free to qualifying interested
parties.

IP-BID.com was previewed for insolvency practitioners at the annual R3
Lite Conference held at Warwick University on July 10 and organised by R3 -
the Association of Business Recovery Professionals (http://www.r3.org.uk).

Further information:
    http://www.ip-bid.com
    Chief Executive, David Dalton
    Telephone: +44(0)845-459-9549
    Mobile: +44(0)7590-187797
    Email: david.dalton@ip-bid.com