DTZ, the property services company, has been appointed by administrators at two subsidiaries of Dawnay, Day to advise on the sale of £300 million-worth of property. The disposal marks the latest attempt by Guy Naggar and Peter Klimt, the men behind Dawnay, Day, to keep the investment company afloat.

DTZ was appointed by BDO Stoy Hayward to advise on 64 mainly retail properties owned by Starlight Investments and Insureprofit, which were put into administration yesterday. They hold investments of close to £500 million and have debt of more than £350 million. BDO's appointment followed a move by Norwich Union to recover its loans from Dawnay, Day.

Richard Stanley, DTZ's director of corporate recovery and restructuring, said: “This is the biggest single property insolvency to come to light in the downturn so far. We are seeing similar difficulties with highly leveraged investment vehicles struggling in the current market.”

Dawnay, Day also sold off 4 per cent of its stake in Premium Bars and Restaurants, which runs the Prohibition and Living Room chains, through investment vehicles Mariona and Jetpath yesterday. It still owns 25.6 per cent of the upmarket bar company.

The group called in accountants Ernst & Young to “assess a range of options” for its offshoots last weekend after being forced to sell a stake in F&C Asset Management at a £70 million loss, following a margin call from one of its banks.

It is understood that Dawnay, Day offered its F&C shares to asset managers Resolution, Aberdeen Asset Management and Artemis last week. Aberdeen declined the offer and it is not known whether Artemis or Resolution took it up.

The group is in discussions to sell a 51 per cent stake in its investment banking arm to a Portuguese bank after receiving 13 expressions of interest in the business. Dawnay, Day Investment Banking was put up for sale last week as its parent company sells assets to pay its debts. Dawnay, Day has also been selling off stakes in the eponymous property funds it spun out in the past four years.

Mr Naggar and Mr Klimt sold almost all their remaining shares in Dawnay, Day Treveria, the listed German property company that was spun out from Dawnay, Day in 2005, at €0.30 a share. This is half its share price from a month ago. The men have disposed of about 4.7 million shares held through other vehicles and have been left with a 0.8 per cent stake in the fund.

Mr Klimt has also offloaded interests representing shares worth more than 2 per cent of Dawnay, Day Carpathian, a specialist in retail property in Central and Eastern Europe, through the holding company Jetpath as Dawnay, Day came under pressure to raise cash.

Since the conglomerate began to unravel, several companies named after the group, including the property funds, have distanced themselves from its problems. In addition, Dawnay Shore Hotels, which owns investments such as The Carlton hotel in Edinburgh, this week stated that the Dawnay, Day group held only an 8 per cent interest in the venture.

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