An enormous roar greeted the news as it filtered through to the 300 or so nervous employees at ISA's headquarters in Little Germany, Bradford.

Chief executive Bruce Robinson vividly remembers the reaction as he delivered the announcement they had all been waiting for: two big city investors had signed up to save ISA and drag the company out of administration.

It was the end of a nervous few days for the staff of the computer products firm who had worked so hard to make ISA International plc a runaway success.

Turnover was soaring, staff levels were increasing and the boss had predicted big things.

Then managers at its $2 billion American parent company Daisytek embarked on ambitious plans to open up new distribution centres across the United States.

Buoyed by its recent success, Daisytek - which had only owned shares in ISA for two years - wanted to compete in new markets for other office products. "They overstretched themselves and lost sight of things," said Mr Robinson. "They started to hit creditor problems and could not pay their key suppliers."

Problems mounted, the banks got angry and then talk that the company was thinking of filing for Chapter 11 protection leaked out.

"Unfortunately, when mother ship is American, and the problems become public, then the global suppliers begin to take a dim view and think how it might be affecting the subsidiaries," said Mr Robinson. "By March or April we were starting to feel the waves and our suppliers were becoming nervous. We did the right thing and sat down with them."

On May 16, ISA International, which had called in accountants for advice, applied for voluntary administration. As a tense few days unfolded, Mr Robinson took to the road, visiting potential investors in an attempt to attract vital new backing to save the firm.

"It was a shocking experience for us, the biggest shock being the speed from learning about the difficulties, to the problems being made public and then the banks losing confidence," he said. "We wanted to protect the company at the earliest possible opportunity and administration was the best route. I was responsible for the fate of more than 1,000 staff, which is a huge responsibility."

Selling ISA's core business in Bradford was not a major challenge, given its success over the previous four years, but the performance of its offices across the continent had been more mixed.

A chance encounter in Norway led to a meeting between Mr Robinson and billionaire entrepreneur Brett Palos. A new European ruling allowed the accountants to take responsibility for the whole ISA operation, enabling the successful British, Swedish and Norwegian businesses to be sold off to Mr Palos and a second private investor.

During the financial problems, only two of the 1,000 strong workforce left the company.