Some bankrupt Perry Sport and Aktiesport shops will be taken over by the British chain JD Sports, reports the NRC newspaper.

Receivers for the bankrupt parent company of the Dutch shops, Unlimited Sports Group (USG), announced the takeover on Wednesday morning. It is not clear how many outlets will be restarted, but it is expected to be ‘in the tens’.

The receivers have been in exclusive talks with JD Sports since last Friday, and although the agreement must be approved by the ACM regulatory authority, it is expected that many of the 2,500 jobs at risk will be saved.

One of the receivers, Toni van Hees, is reportedly pleased to have found a ‘good buyer’ for the shops so quickly. ‘JD Sports is a financially strong company with a good reputation in the market,’ he said. ‘This gives the best guarantee that the largest possible number of stores can continue. This serves many interests, including employment.’

USG’s problems have been partly attributed to the bankruptcy of the department store V&D and shoe retail chain Scapino, where it had ‘shops in shops’. These will not be restarted.

However, its problems predated this, as shown in 2014 annual accounts when it went to a consortium of Rabobank, DZ Bank, ING and Deutsche Bank to borrow €88bn. Bank creditors are expected to be recompensed with a significant portion of the JD Sports deal.

It is not known how much JD Sports will pay for the takeover, but the stores will add to 16 that it already has in the Netherlands. The British firm was founded in 1981 and now has 800 shops, reporting a turnover equivalent to €1.9bn last year.