Riverbourne Group in administration as reports circulate that up to nine brokers are interested in acquiring the business

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Cobra Network broker Riverbourne Group has been put into administration, with accountancy firm Wilkins Kennedy poring over its assets and liabilities.

Managing director Nick Plowman founded the commercial property specialist in 2002. In May last year, Insurance Times reported that Surrey-based Riverbourne was seeking damages of more than £400,000 from Square Mile Broking.

Riverbourne claimed in the writ that two former employees broke their restrictive covenants by taking Riverbourne clients with them when they joined Square Mile, which has offices in the Lloyd’s building in London.

The writ came only a few months after it emerged that directors Nicholas Jamieson and Daniel Lane quit for Northern Alliance Insurance Brokers, which they set up in 2008. Plowman said he bought out the pair’s 20% Riverbourne stake to allow them to leave.

No one from Riverbourne or Cobra was available for comment.

The firm’s deterioration may have happened over the past year, as the 2010 accounts for Riverbourne Group Ltd show a £296,222 profit compared with £439,927 in 2009. Shareholders’ funds was £307,459.