Administrators have been called in at Bondshold Ltd, the manufacturer of high-integrity steel and high-chrome iron castings at three sites across the north of England.
It employs a total of 219 people, with representatives from Deloitte hopeful of finding a buyer through a Christmas shut down period.
The heavy industry operator trades as Bonds Heavy Castings business in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, where 77 people are employed, with 79 staff at a site in Durham and 63 in Alston, Cumbria, operating under the names Bonds Foundry Company, Bonds Precision Castings and Darwins Holdings.
Clare Boardman and Adrian Berry, restructuring partners at Deloitte, were appointed on Friday.
Ms Boardman said: “The group has experienced market challenges through its exposure to the steel sector and operational challenges following the integration of newly acquired businesses.
“The appointment comes at a time when the group, and the wider industry, enters its Christmas holiday shut-down period. This allows the joint administrators to continue ongoing discussions with interested parties, with a view to finding a buyer for the business.
“The business is well-known and long established so we remain hopeful that a buyer can still be found for all or parts of it.
“The administrators would like to thank the group’s employees for their ongoing support at this difficult time.”
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In Scunthorpe, the Dawes Lane site dates back more than 100 years and was originally built as a munitions factory.
In 1917, the Sheffield firm of John Brown and Co signed a lease for the land to build a steel foundry. It continued to trade as Firth Brown, Firth Rixon and Bradken, and was acquired in 2016 by Bondshold Group, with the help of a £500,000 grant from the steel fund set up to mitigate restructuring losses at the Scunthorpe steelworks.
The site also produces huge industrial ball and ring sets to pulverise coal and biomass for the firing of power stations, with the former another rapidly deteriorating market. British Steel, headquartered in Scunthorpe, has been in compulsory liquidation since May, though a deal with Jingye Group is understood to be close to completing in the new year.
Senior management changes have taken place over the past 18 months at the Dawes Lane site, well prior to the administrators being called in.