A BURNLEY firm put itself into administration as part of a plan to secure multi-million pound foreign investment in the company, its chief executive said.

There were fears of job losses at Turkington Engineers Ltd, Billington Road, Burnley, when it was announced that it had gone into administration.

But the boss of the bakery equipment manufacturer Stuart Ashman said that the company had already been bought back by parent corporation Turkington Industries, and that a rebranding as Clearcircle and a new set of accounts would help bring a cash injection.

He added that the changes in the structure of the company had been made with the interests of employees at the centre, with no job losses or changes in working patterns.

Sixty jobs could have gone if the move had not been made.

Mr Ashman said: "We have effectively cleaned our house so that the investors from the US can see a nice set of accounts.

"Since we bought a factory in the US three years ago, we have grown from a turnover of £9million to 71 million dollars and because of that a lot of investors have been interested.

"We have had our problems and four or five years ago our accounts were absolutely appalling. BDO accountants suggested the only way to overcome that while keeping the investments and protecting the workforce was to put it into administration and buy it back as a new company with all the same work in progress, creditors and intellectual property.

"I was astounded when they said this was an option but they said it was actually common in the US. We were deemed by the court to be acting as responsible employers."

Michael Damms, chief executive of the East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce, said he had never heard of a deal like this before.