Timothy Graham Vance, Alan Michael Hudson and Dan Edkins of EY-Parthenon’s Turnaround & Restructuring Strategy have been appointed as Joint Administrators to eight UK trading entities of ISG – ISG Central Services Limited, ISG Interior Services Group UK Limited, ISG Fit Out Limited, ISG Engineering Services Limited, ISG UK Retail Limited, ISG Retail Limited, ISG Construction Limited and ISG Jackson Limited.

ISG’s UK operations ceased to trade with immediate effect with 2,200 staff made redundant and 200 kept on temporarily to assist the administrators in winding down the business.

EY said: “ISG’s UK business has experienced liquidity constraints in recent months. The directors explored a number of options to secure the future of the business, including a sale of all or part of the group and refinancing options.

“Despite significant efforts to secure a sale of the group over many months, a deal could not be completed.

“Whilst there has been misleading speculation surrounding the potential sale in the last few days, we wish to be clear to employees, suppliers, and customers that it was not possible to conclude a sale as the potential purchaser could not, despite repeated requests of them to do so, adequately demonstrate that they had the funding needed to recapitalise the business and keep it solvent.

“Due to current market conditions, an alternative sale or additional funding could not be secured. As a result, the Directors made an application to Court to place certain UK trading entities of ISG in administration.”

ISG plc is expected to follow its subsidiary companies by entering administration today.

Six of the contractor’s subsidiaries, including ISG Construction, applied to enter administration yesterday.

Currently the sixth-largest contractor in the UK with around 2,400 employees, ISG holds multiple contracts for the UK Government for building prisons and police stations, and counts Apple, Barclays and Google among its private sector clients.

Last year, ISG was appointed to oversee the extensive refurbishment of a multi-million-pound new distillery and visitor centre for whisky and gin distillery Eden Mill.

It is understood that EY is on standby to handle insolvency proceedings for eight ISG entities, including ISG Central Services and ISG Interior Services.

ISG reported revenue of £2.2 billion and pre-tax profits of £11.5 million, according to the latest accounts filed at Companies House.

It’s collapse would be the biggest casualty in the sector since Carillion went into liquidation in 2018.