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Cobbetts leaves £90m trail of debt

Defunked law firm Cobbetts LLP, which was headquarted in Manchester, went into administration with over £90m of debts, according to a report released on Thursday.

Bought by rival company DWF in February, Cobbetts owes £74.4m in property leases in Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and London.

Landlords for these premises are set to lose out, alongside Lloyds Bank, who loaned £7.3m to the firm, but will only recoup £2.5m.

Greater Manchester companies are also expected to take a hit, including DTZ, PR company MC2, James Lang La Salle and The Co-operative Travel Management.

Close Asset Finance , who funded a large proportion of Cobbetts’ office furniture and equipment across the Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham branches will also lose £30,000, after just £120,000 of the full amount lent was promised by administrators KPMG.

Administrators were called in January 2013 after the firm failed to recover from the economic downturn three years earlier.

DWF bought the failing LLP for approximately £4m after negotiations with the joint administrators, along with the transfer of 439 Cobbetts employees.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .