Closing a company? Its records could be worth £50k to £1.5m.

Directors and office-holders can license a closing company's email, files and ledgers. We value the records, offer them across our network of labs and data partners, and negotiate the licence.

  • No cost to you
  • No upfront commitment
  • De-identified before delivery
2 minutesto an estimate
1 dayuntil we call you
Any stagethe earlier the better
2-minute valuation
Step 1 of 3

Estimated licence value

£250k to £590k

Indicative only. Offers depend on what the records contain.

The company

100
10

Protect the value early

The licence value depends on the company's history still existing. These steps keep it intact while you decide.

  • Keep the email and file subscriptions running until the records are exported.
  • Secure the admin logins for email, file storage and the accounting system.
  • Hold on to laptops, servers and backup drives rather than wiping or selling them.
  • Note which systems the company used, and roughly when.
  • Call us before you cancel anything.

Which companies qualify

Licensees want established companies whose records show skilled work done step by step.

  • 20 or more staffBefore the wind-down.
  • 3 or more years of recordsEmail and files that still exist, in any system.
  • Based in the UK or CanadaRecords mainly in English.
  • Any stageThe earlier the better, before the subscriptions lapse.

Sectors in most demand

Choose the company's sector to start the 2-minute valuation.

Who we work with

If you hold the records of a company that is closing, we can value them and offer them across our network of licensees.

  • Directors closing a company

    Winding down, striking off or dissolution

    License the records before the subscriptions end and the archive is deleted.

  • Administrators

    Administration

    Value the records early, so they can go with the business or be licensed separately for the estate.

  • Liquidators

    CVL and compulsory

    License the records as a realisation, including where trading has stopped and there is no buyer for the business.

  • Trustees, receivers and monitors

    Bankruptcy, receivership and CCAA

    In Canada, license the records as a realisation in a bankruptcy, receivership or CCAA proceeding.

  • Members' voluntary liquidations

    MVL

    Add a realisation for shareholders before a solvent company is closed.

  • Buyers of a business

    Pre-packs and business sales

    The records usually go with the business, and the buyer can license the history it has acquired.

How it works

  1. 01

    Tell us about the company

    Complete the 2-minute form. We check what records exist and whether the company qualifies.

  2. 02

    Records review

    A call with you or your team to confirm the systems, dates and access, and to firm up the range.

  3. 03

    Written offers

    We describe the records across our network of research labs and data partners without naming the company, and bring back written offers side by side with our suggested deal.

  4. 04

    Export and de-identification

    The licensee, or its specialist partner, exports the records, replaces personal data with placeholders and leaves out privileged or sensitive material. You approve the method and a sample first.

  5. 05

    Licence fee paid

    The licensee pays the company, or the estate, on the dates in the licence. Office-holders report it like any other realisation.

How personal data is handled

Each licence covers de-identified records only, so the company can realise their value with personal data kept out of what is delivered.

Replaced
Names, email addresses, phone numbers, addresses, references and account numbers.
Excluded
Privileged and client-confidential material, personnel and health records, and anything else you choose to hold back.
Kept
The problem, the reasoning and how it was solved.
Original0 of 13 replaced
FromPriya Natarajan[Staff_04] <priya.natarajan@kestrelforwarding.co.uk[Email_217]>
ToGareth Lowe[Contact_112] <gareth@loweanddaughters.co.uk[Email_118]>
SubjectShipment KF-7731[Job_0412] held at Dover

Gareth[Contact_112],

HMRC have held both pallets at Dover. The invoice classes the brackets under 7326 (iron or steel) but your spec sheet says cast aluminium, so they want 7616. The duty difference is small, but they won't release until the entry is amended.

I've asked the haulier, Mark Bevan[Contact_57] at Ridgeway Transport[Haulier_19] (07700 900583[Phone_33]), to wait at Sevington rather than return to the yard. If you can confirm the material by 2pm I'll amend the entry and we should clear today. Your EORI GB 1234 5678 9000[EORI_08] is on file.

Priya[Staff_04]
Kestrel Forwarding[Firm_01], Unit 4, Whitfield Business Park, CT16 3QW[Address_26]

Example email. The people and companies are fictional.

How each licence is structured

  • The company grants the licenceThe licence is granted by the company, through its directors or the office-holder.
  • No marketing useNo customer lists are licensed, and nothing can be used to contact anyone.
  • Licensees give warrantiesEach licensee warrants how the data will be used and indemnifies the company, its directors and any office-holder.
  • You approve firstYou see the method and a sample before anything is delivered.

What records have fetched

£7.5m

Google's winning bid for Spirit Airlines' de-identified emails and chats, sold at auction in its US bankruptcy in August 2026.

  • £490k

    Freight broker, 100 staff

    Rate quotes, shipment documents, dispatch records, delivery exceptions and claims.

  • £340k

    Engineering firm, 70 staff

    CAD drawings, calculations, technical reports and specifications.

  • £260k

    Accountancy firm, 60 staff

    Five years of workpapers, reconciliations, financial models and tax files.

Closed deals by US licensing firms in 2026.

FAQs

What does it cost?

Nothing. The licensee pays our fee when a licence completes. If there's no deal, there's no fee.

Who licenses the data?

Research labs, companies building software for particular industries, and the firms that supply training data to both. They use it to train and test models on real work. The permitted uses, term and exclusivity are written into the licence.

What if the subscriptions have already lapsed?

Call us anyway. Providers often keep data for a short time after a subscription ends, and records may also survive on laptops, servers or backups.

Can the records be licensed if the business was sold?

If the records transferred with the business, they belong to the purchaser. If they were left out of the sale, they can still be licensed.

Who needs to be involved?

Whoever controls the company: the directors, or the office-holder once one is appointed. The main thing needed is admin access to the company's email and file accounts.

Is there demand for UK and Canadian records?

Yes, records from both are sought after. Labs want English-language records from established businesses, and most firms licensing so far have been in the US.

Call us before you cancel anything

Two minutes to an estimate, and no cost to you.

Value the records