Party Pieces, an online party supplies retailer founded by Michael and Carole Middleton, the parents of Catherine, the Princess of Wales, has been sold for an undisclosed amount after collapsing into administration.
Party Pieces has always been a family business, founded in 1987 after Carole Middleton was looking for a birthday inspiration for Kate's 5th birthday, and could not find one.
It was launched at their family home in Berkshire, England, and began selling party essentials online. It became the source of the Middleton family's wealth.
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| Michael and Carole Middleton |
This month it was bought out of administration by the entrepreneur James Sinclair, who owns businesses such as Teddy Tastic Bear Co Ltd.
Will Wright and Chris Pole from the financial restructuring firm Interpath Advisory were appointed joint administrators to Party Pieces on Thursday and immediately sold the business to Teddy Tastic Bear Co, which will also take on the company’s 12 employees.
James Sinclair is described on his personal website as “the founder and CEO of the Partyman group of companies”, including leisure and childcare businesses as well as outdoor attractions. His assets also include the Rossi ice-cream company, which has produced ice-cream in Essex since 1932.
The sale of Party Pieces marks the end of the Middletons’ ownership of the business they founded in 1987, which had run into financial trouble in recent years.
While the couple are the shareholders in the business, it is not known if they are also creditors. Shareholders tend to receive very little, if anything, if a company is bought out of administration. The administrators of Party Pieces are required to report to creditors within eight weeks of the administration, setting out their proposals.
Carole Middleton has previously described how she was inspired to set up the company after failing to find suitable party supplies in the shops for Kate’s fifth birthday party. She subsequently started the business from the kitchen table at the family’s Berkshire home.
Party Pieces suffered a significant knock to trade during the pandemic, which put a stop to parties and celebrations for months at a time. Party Pieces made a loss of almost £286,000 after tax in 2021, according to its most recent accounts.
It said the loss resulted from continued investment in the company’s growth plans, including design of its own-brand product range and a push into overseas markets in the US, EU and Middle East, according to accounts filed with Companies House.
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