The DC Cook group, which went into receivership on January 19, is within days of being broken up, according to Grant Thornton, the appointed administrative receivers.

The dealer group went into receivership with debts of £27m and recorded losses before tax to April 30, 2000 of £6.3m. Its 27 franchised outlets, representing nine manufacturers, have been put on the market.

Nigel Ruddock, of Grant Thornton, said there had been considerable interest in the group's sites.

"We have sent out more than 100 sales packs and are in negotation on a number of sites. The whole group won't be sold off as one - it's too big.

"Contracts are out on two of the sites and we expect to have the first purchase announcement out next week."

Mr Ruddock said the interested parties ranged from large dealer groups through to "small single-site dealerships".

The franchises DC Cook holds, together with locations are Fiat (Barnsley, Derby, Doncaster, Macclesfield, Manchester, Rochdale, Rotherham, Sheffield, York), Alfa Romeo (Derby, Doncaster, Manchester, Rochdale, Sheffield, York), Citroen (Barnsley, Wakefield, Shrewsbury), Renault (Crewe, Newcastle), MG Rover (Derby), Nissan (Coventry), Mitsubishi (Derby), Daihatsu (Derby) and Jaguar (Doncaster).

DC Cook was positioned at 25 in the latest AM100 update published in November, with a turnover of £340m.