Creditors have backed a pension transfer proposal put forward by a regional publisher as part of a takeover deal.

Archant has announced its creditors have voted in favour of its Company Voluntary Arrangement plan, which will see the publisher’s defined benefit pension scheme move into the Pension Protection Fund.

The PPF, a ‘lifeboat’ scheme set up by the government to provide pension benefits to members of schemes whose sponsoring employers have become insolvent, will take a 10pc equity stake in Archant as a result.

The deal, announced last month, saw London-based investment firm Rcapital take a 90pc stake in the business.

Two of Archant’s holding companies – Archant Limited and Archant Community Media Holdings Limited – were placed into administration as a result of the move.

Archant Community Media Limited, the group’s trading company and employer of its staff, is not affected.

The vote saw 94pc of all voting creditors choosing to approve the CVA, surpassing the 75pc total required in order to pass the resolution.

Archant executive chairman Simon Bax said: “We are pleased that our proposal for a CVA has been approved by our creditors and I would like to thank our employees, creditors and other key stakeholders for their support.

“We now look forward to a positive future as we embark on the next chapter for our business with Rcapital.”

Chris Pole, pictured, joint supervisor of the CVA and partner at KPMG, added: “The approval of the CVA is an important step which ensures that Archant has the foundations in place to progress its financial restructuring and recommence its transformation, turnaround and modernisation plan.”

The vote’s result comes amid national newspaper reports that Rcapital is among the interested parties in the race to buy JPIMedia, as covered by HTFP.