LONDON (AP) — Administrators took control of British van maker LDV on Monday and put more than 800 people out of work, hours after the company was placed under bankruptcy protection following the collapse of a rescue bid by a Malaysian company.

Administrators from PriceWaterhouseCoopers said they were keeping a skeleton staff of 40, and hoped to find a way to keep the business going.

LDV's Asian distributor, Weststar, had sought to take over LDV but that effort fell apart last week when the Malaysian company said it had been unable to arrange financing.

LDV withdrew a previous application for administration on May 18 after Weststar confirmed its intention to take over. Britain's Department of Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform had offered a bridging loan of up to 5 million pounds ($7.5 million) to help keep the company going.

A court in Birmingham on Monday placed LDV in administration along with Birmingham Pressings Ltd., which provides parts exclusively to the van maker.

"Over the coming days we will review all options for the companies and seek a buyer for the business and assets," said a statement from Rob Hunt, Mark Hopkins and Matthew Hammond, appointed as joint administrators.

"We have already been approached by three parties wishing to engage with us, and we will try to ensure that a solution is found to provide a structure to take the business forward."

LDV, formerly Leyland DAF Vans, has been owned by Russia's GAZ Group, controlled by billionaire Oleg Deripaska, since 2006.

Weststar has exclusive rights to market, assemble, distribute and service LDV's Maxus light commercial vehicles in 20 countries, including Vietnam, Indonesia, Australia, and New Zealand.

"This is a bitter blow for manufacturing and the West Midlands region in particular, said Tony Woodley, joint leader of the Unite union.

"However LDV has been in a vulnerable situation for many years and today's sad announcement is not due to any lack of effort by either Unite or the government to find solutions," Woodley said.