Convenience store chain McColl's has collapsed into administration, putting 16,000 jobs at risk.
McColl's said the company's lenders did not want to extend banking agreements that were keeping the business going.
Accountancy firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers has been appointed as administrators and will look for a buyer "as soon as possible".
Supermarket chain Morrisons proposed a rescue deal on Thursday to try to safeguard the chain.
It said the company will now appoint administrators from PwC in an effort to "preserve the future of the business and to protect the interests of employees".
The Glasgow-founded company said it hopes that the administrators will help to "implement a sale of the business to a third-party purchaser as soon as possible".
It is understood that Morrisons is still interested in a takeover, while Sky News has reported that forecourt giant EG Group, whose owners also own Asda, is interested in a deal.
READ MORE: McColl's convenience stores on brink of collapse
Earlier on Friday, Morrisons tabled a rescue deal which would also take on the business as a going concern, absorb its debts of over £100 million and take responsibility for the company's pension scheme.
The two businesses are major partners, with McColl's operating hundreds of convenience shops under the Morrisons Daily brand.
McColl's has struggled financially in recent years after witnessing soaring costs due to supply chain disruption, inflation and its large debt burden.
On Thursday evening, McColl's had said it was in talks over "potential financing solutions" to resolve its funding issues.
Shares in McColl's were suspended earlier this week after the company delayed the publication of its latest financial results due to its financing talks.
A spokesperson for the trustees of the McColl's Pension Schemes warned staff could miss out on payments following administration and urged any new owner to protect the schemes.
The spokesperson said: "The pension schemes are significant stakeholders in the company, and the trustees call on all potential bidders to make clear that they will respect the pension promises made to the 2,000 members by McColl's and its subsidiaries, and will not seek to break the link between the schemes and the company.
"Breaking the link between the schemes and the sponsor company, by way of a pre-pack administration, would represent a serious breach of the pension promises made to staff who have served the business loyally over many years, and risks causing the schemes to enter the Pension Protection Fund with a resulting reduction in benefits."
The group runs more than 1,100 convenience shops across Scotland, England, and Wales.
RS McColl was founded by Robert Smyth McColl, a footballer for Rangers, Queen's Park, Newcastle United and Scotland, and his brother Tom in 1901, and the group was set up in 1973.
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