The jobs are mostly middle or senior management, but some human resources and IT staff have also been told that their positions at the company, which runs pubs and supermarkets, are going to go. The company, the largest private employer in the Channel Islands with around 3,500 staff, was sold for £260m to a private equity firm called Sandpiper Bidco earlier this month, and the new owner has confirmed that some jobs are being lost. Sandpiper chief executive officer Tony O’Neill said the redundancies were ‘entirely consistent’ with his earlier statements that some restructuring work would be carried out. He added that the lost jobs were split between Jersey and Guernsey. Mr O’Neill said: ‘Within the context of the 3,500 staff we are making selected changes to the structure of the organisation and we are consulting properly with individuals. When I spoke to my staff on the first day we took over, I told them we would be carrying out structural reviews of certain functions but that we would endeavour to have those reviews completed by the end of August. ‘There may be within IT one or two staff – but out of around 20 people, the majority of those are senior management people – the vast majority.’ The sale of CI Traders was approved by the Royal Court at the start of the month after 98% of shareholders gave their backing.
