The 'investor concept' put to the creditors' committee by administrator Werner Schneider would mean all of the group's manufacturing sites in Germany continue, albeit in a reduced form.

As had been widely predicted, the Augsburg web offset facility is being sold to the €2bn (£1.7bn) turnover Possehl Group, a conglomerate that owns more than 130 companies. The intention is for Possehl to ultimately acquire the Plauen 'mechatronic systems' factory too, but in the interim Plauen will become an independent company, supplying Augsburg and other third party customers. It will be run by Schneider during this period.

Manroland's Offenbach sheetfed facility will be subject to a management buyout, "in cooperation with an investor" and also requiring financial guarantees from the federal state of Hessen. The management involved have not been named. It is expected further details will emerge next week.

A bid for the entire group, understood to be from US investor Platinum Equity, was rejected. A spokesman for Schneider said: "The major problem with the bid for all of the business was that it wasn't really ready. Lots of parts in the offer were not specific enough."

Employee numbers will be reduced under the sell-off plans, with Augsburg reduced to 1,473, Offenbach 750 and around 300 staff remaining at the Plauen site. Prior to its insolvency Manroland had employed around 6,500 people worldwide, with 4,700 in Germany.

It is possible that the Manroland name will continue at both operations, but with a suffix, such as 'Manroland Augsburg'. The affect on Manroland's international network of 100 sales and service operations is still to be determined.

A source close to the company described the sale of Augsburg to Possehl as "fantastic news for the web division", but said the lack of a third-party buyout option for Offenbach was "a complete disaster".

The proposals will need to be ratified by a meeting of creditors next month.

Zelf Hussain of Pricewaterhousecoopers, joint administrator of Manroland GB, said it was too soon to say what the German deal would mean for the UK wing: "It's positive that someone's interested in the business, but at the moment we don't have clarity on what their intentions are. We are looking to speak to them today or tomorrow to find out more."