Executive search firm Ellis Fairbank has gone into administration.

In a written statement issued exclusively to Recruiter, director Harry Cross confirmed that the company went into administration on 29 September 2009. “Despite all our efforts we could not keep it viable in the current market. There will be no buyout and no ongoing business. I don’t have anything else to say I’m afraid,” Cross told Recruiter.

Insolvency practitioner Harrisons has been appointed as joint administrators.  However, no one at the company was available for comment as Recruiter went to press on Friday.

This the second time in little short of a year that a company using the Ellis Fairbank name, of which Cross and fellow director Jason Martin were directors has gone into administration.

In October 2008, Ellis Fairbank then a public limited company went into administration, owing almost £14m to creditors, including £10m to Bank of Scotland, more than £3.7m to unsecured creditors, and £92,000 in unpaid wages and redundancy payments.

Ellis Fairbank PLC was subsequently bought from the administrators, when IHR Group, whose directors include Cross and Martin, agreed to pay £198,000 for the company, of which £135,000 was deferred for 18 months.  According to Companies House records, Ellis Fairbank Limited, the company that went into administration on 29 September 2009, was incorporated as a limited company on 25 September 2008.