German administrators have given up in their efforts to find a buyer for the cellphone maker BenQ Mobile, which went bankrupt at the tail end of last year. Almost all jobs will go at the former Siemens outfit, which Taiwanese electronics group BenQ picked up in 2005.

BenQ Mobile's insolvency administrator Martin Prager told reporters on Sunday: "From what I can tell there is now no chance of the company being sold as a single entity and relaunched. We have to acknowledge that the market has decided against BenQ Mobile."

Dozens of interested parties were reportedly rejected by the creditors 'committee, or shied away from an acquisition when they learned the the scale of the financial troubles afflicting the firm.

The board at BenQ decided to stop bankrolling the business in September, after the company failed to turn the tide against fierce competition from Nokia and a resurgent Motorola, and from cheaper white label handets from the Far East. ®

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• Germans begin probe into BenQ Mobile collapse (9 November 2006)
• Siemens creates hardship fund for BenQ workers (2 October 2006)
• BenQ says 'adieu' to its European mobile phone business (28 September 2006)
• BenQ Mobile shows shiny black handset trio (26 July 2006)