Bea’s of Bloomsbury has gone into administration and been sold, it has been revealed.

The London-based retail bakery business, which operated four sites across the capital, published a Notice of Administrators Appointment on Companies House on 19 December 2012.

Freddy Khalastchi and Jonathan Bass of Harris Lipman Chartered Accountants and Insolvency Practitioners in London were appointed as the administrators on 11 December 2012.

In a statement released by the administrators, it revealed the business suffered as a result of the economic downturn and because of increased overheads, forcing it into administration with estimated unsecured debts in the region of £375,000.

The buyer of Bea’s of Bloomsbury has been revealed as a newly formed company called Lakshmi Honey Badger Limited involving some former directors of the London bakery business, which is also backed by a number of investors. It will be operating three sites, located on Theobald’s Road near Holborn, Watling Street close to St Paul’s, and Druid Street in Southwark, under the Bea’s of Bloomsbury name.

The company’s fourth outlet, based on King’s Road in Chelsea, was returned to the landlord as soon as the company was placed into administration.

The move has resulted in no redundancies, with staff from the now closed King’s Road site relocated to other locations.