Dawnay, Day's property interests moved to disassociate themselves further from Guy Naggar and Peter Klimt's collapsing financial services empire today as Dawnay Shore Hotels accepted the two men's resignations as directors.

Shore Capital, the property investment specialist controlled by Howard Shore, has also taken immediate control of the management of the Dawnay Shore Hotels assets on the same terms previously carried out by Dawnay, Day Hotels.

The fate of the 8 per cent stake in Dawnay Shore Hotels held by Dawnay Day remains unclear, although it is likely to be decided by restructuring experts at Ernst & Young, who were brought earlier this month.

Dawnay, Day Carpathian, a separate property interest, also announced today that Mr Klimt had resigned as a director.

Dawnay, Day Hotels is a classic example of the complexity of the Dawnay, Day holdings. The company joined forces with Shore Capital in 2004 to buy Paramount Hotels, which was then renamed.

The operations of the hotels, which include the Imperial in Blackpool, the Majestic in Harrogate and Carlton in Edinburgh, are licensed to Barcelo Hotels and Resorts, whose management of the 20 four-star estate remains unaffected.

Dawnay Shore Hotels said today that it would be changing its name to Puma Hotels, subject to shareholder agreement.

The move represents the latest unravelling of the Dawnay, Day estate, the first signs of which came when the investment group was forced to sell off its 20 per cent stake in F&C Asset Management for just £1 a share.

It followed margin calls that forced Mr Naggar and Mr Klimt to sell assets in pursuit of capital. BDO Stay Hayward has been appointed administrator of parts of the Dawnay, Day group.

The Dawnay, Day name is operated by some 900 companies.

Properties worth about £800 million have been put up for sale by Mr Naggar and Mr Klimt. DTZ, the property services company, is advising on 64 mainly retail properties owned by Starlight Investments and Insureprofit, which were put into administration last week.

Sol Zakay, the billionaire property entrepreneur, emerged as a potential buyer of some of the assets late last week.

The property ventures — Dawnay, Day Carpathian, Dawnay, Day Sirius and Dawnay, Day Treveria — have moved quickly to reassure their investors that they are not affected. Between them, the three companies control property assets worth about £2.7 billion.

The property ventures are also considering changing their names to end the Dawnay Day association.

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