Wright Marshall Limited was placed into administration on June 26 with its rural auction mart closed last month.
However, its property and art divisions continued to trade and FRP Advisory is arranging the sale of these parts of the business.
The Wright Marshall brand was created in 2014 when auction houses Frank Marshall of Knutsford and Wright Manley of Beeston merged.
Partridge worked at Frank Marshall from 1999-2008, when he left to set up his own auction house.
Partridge is in discussion with the administrator to potentially buy the Knutsford saleroom lease and take on its 12 staff. “The first priority is to acquire Wright Marshall’s fine art business assets – the database, staff and the firm’s goodwill – and save jobs,” he told ATG. “If that’s impossible due to the financials – the requested price is higher than I was expecting, having examined the books – then I will set up an office in Knutsford and take on some Wright Marshall staff.”
He added: “I would like to open in Knutsford anyway as I already do business there and locals know me.”
Scheduled fine art auctions have been cancelled while the business is in administration and will “only resume once a purchaser for the business has been secured”, FRP Advisory said.
