Touche Ross cannot confirm that it will approve a management buyout at Bluebird Software Plc, despite reports to the contrary in the UK press. Touche Ross is negotiating to sell the business, either broken up or in its entirety, but that decision depends on how attractive the various offers are. Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire-based Bluebird was an IBM AS/400 and RS/6000 agent, and other AS/400 agents are concerned that the company will re-emerge as an approved agent, as did Banford Computers, now known as Byford. Colin Wells, managing director of Manchester-based JBA International, believes that it would be wrong for IBM to grant agency status to a company with a shaky financial history. Wells says that it undervalues the agency programme, and since the new company will have to find the funds for relaunching, he suggests that the money ought to find its way to those suppliers and staff who are owed money. Ironically, IBM UK is a major debtee and shareholder, and its future relationship with Bluebird has still to be seen.
