Toys ‘R’ Us Australia has gone into voluntary administration months after the US and UK retail giant’s collapse.

Directors of the company resolved to appoint voluntary administrators McGrathNicol after the withdrawal of the final bidder for the sale of the Australian business, a McGrathNicol spokesman said in a statement on Monday.

All Toys ‘R’ Us and Babies ‘R’ Us stores will remain open and continue to trade while the administrators explore options for the sale of the stand-alone Australian business or a recapitalisation through the voluntary administration process.

The company operates 44 retail stores across Australia and employs about 700 permanent staff.

No employee positions are affected by the appointment, the spokesman said.

It follows the announcement in March that Toys ‘R’ Us in the US was preparing to sell or close all its 885 stores after it was weighed down by billions of dollars in debt accumulated since it was bought by a real estate investor and two private equity firms in 2005.

Administrators closed a quarter of the company’s 100 UK stores by mid-March with plans to close the remaining stores by the end of April.

Partners Jason Preston, Keith Crawford and Barry Kogan have been appointed as the Australian retail giant’s voluntary administrators.