THE global financial crisis has finally broken the back of the struggling manufacturer Nylex, maker of the Esky brand, which has been placed in receivership and its shares suspended from trading on the ASX.

Control of the business and assets now rests with the receiver, McGrathNicol, appointed yesterday by a syndicate of secured lenders. Nylex, which employs about 700 people in Australia, owes $60 million to Westpac and ANZ Bank, and has debts of $100 million.

A diversified company more than 60 years old, Nylex makes some of Australia's best-known products. Besides Esky coolers, it makes Ajax fasteners, rubbish bins and water tanks. The group will continue trading while in administration.

Nylex, based in Melbourne, has struggled for a decade after being a major company under Alan Jackson in the late 1990s. It has faced extensive restructuring in the past three years.

When trading halted, its shares were worth 6.4c, giving the company a market capitalisation of $3.5 million. The stock was trading as high as 65c in August, and the group was worth $35 million.