The retail property titan, whose centres include Manchester’s Trafford Centre and the Metrocentre in Gateshead, is lining up KPMG to handle an insolvency process if its lenders do not grant a standstill agreement on its £4.5bn debt pile.

According to Sky News, the development was agreed by Intu’s board late last week as the business drove its contingency planning in the event that negotiations with lenders fail.