An estimated 2,000 jobs are under threat at Kwik Save after the troubled supermarket chain filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators.

After filing papers with the courts in Manchester, the 200-store chain, which appointed KPMG’s restructuring experts to help to find new funding at the end of last month, now has a deadline of next Friday to complete refinancing or call in the administrators.

Kwik Save last week announced plans to close 79 stores, nearly a third of its portfolio, as part an attempt to save the business.

The group is understood to be seeking finance from new sources as well as from Brendan Murtagh, a member of the Irish family that founded Kingspan, the property company that helped to refinance the business earlier this year.

It is hoped that at least part of the chain can be rescued through a “prepack” administration in which the best stores will continue to trade under a new owner.

However, retail insiders said that Kwik Save was likely to struggle to secure new funding as it had a number of strategic challenges, including many poor store locations and low scale compared with rivals such as Tesco and Asda.

It is understood that Kwik Save’s financial problems have led to a number of suppliers, including Arla, the dairy company, ceasing to trade with it.

Kwik Save has been struggling to survive since it was sold to a group of private investors by Somerfield, soon after the supermarket chain was taken private by a consortium led by Barclays Capital, Apax Partners and Robert Tchenguiz, the property entrepreneur.

The retailer faces increasing competition from high street retailers such as Tesco and J Sainsbury, which have been expanding aggressively into the convenience market. It also suffered distribution problems in its early days as a standalone business. The company has been through a string of management changes since its buy-out from Somerfield.

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