McColl’s, the convenience retailer, has collapsed but the co-owners of Asda are expected to agree a deal with administrators that would rescue the bulk of the company.

Sky’s City editor Mark Kleinman, who had reported earlier on Friday that Morrisons was among interested parties, said the Issa brothers’ EG Group – the petrol station operator – was also waiting in the wings and a deal could even be concluded later in the day.

McColl’s said it took the decision to appoint PwC as administrator after its lenders objected to the potential outcome of a sale for them and refused to extend a deadline for the retailer to find more cash.

The company has 1,400 stores and employs 16,000 staff but it is hoped that a sale out of administration would preserve the vast majority of its workforce and store estate though Kleinman reported that thousands of jobs could still be lost.

McColl’s shares have been suspended from trading on the London Stock Exchange.

McColl’s said in a statement: “In order to protect creditors, preserve the future of the business and to protect the interests of employees, the board was regrettably… left with no choice other than to place the company in administration, appointing PriceWaterhouseCoopers as administrators, in the expectation that they intend to implement a sale of the business to a third-party purchaser as soon as possible.”

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