Petlife Ventures, the pet accessories manufacturer trading as Hi-Craft, has been bought by its management in a deal worth more than £500,000.

Petlife Ventures, the pet accessories manufacturer trading as Hi-Craft, has been bought by its management in a deal worth more than £500,000.

Company manager Glen Brookfield secured £250,000 in funding from Allied Fund Managers through its MSIF Mezzanine Fund to buy the Liverpool company out of administration. Brookfield also invested £100,000 of his own money and an undisclosed sum was provided by Hi-Craft’s existing bank.

Brookfield intends to steer the pet leads, collars, toys and beds company towards a turnover of some £5 million within two years.

AFM recently announced that 2008 was a record year for investment. The fund managers said a total of £24.9 million was invested in the nine-month period to September 2008, an increase of £7.3 million compared with the whole of 2007.