Legal and financial technicalities are understood to have delayed the deal, which had been expected to be finalised on Monday or Tuesday of this week.

However, it still appears inevitable that the business will be taken over in some form by Polestar’s owner Sun European Partners.

Experts in company restructuring and takeovers believe the deal will have to involve some sort of insolvency process or pre-pack, due to the level of liabilities at £67.8m turnover Goodhead, including the group’s pension deficit.

A source close to the situation said: "It looks like some creditors will lose out, but in the end this has to be good news for the industry because the web offset sector cannot go on sustaining this level of losses. Something serious has got to happen."

An insolvency professional added: "KPMG will need to jump through all the SIP 16 hoops to show this was the best offer and result for creditors. The pension issue is interesting, and could lead to the Pensions Regulator issuing contribution notices if he thinks it is a stitch-up."