Some 200 would-be buyers have expressed interest

PricewaterhouseCoopers, administrator for the stricken carmaker, said Russian firms were among 200 potential buyers.

TVR has dismissed newspaper reports that its owner may buy MG Rover.

Ruspromavto - owned by Mr Deripaska - said that its "leadership has not held and does not plan to hold any negotiations on this matter".

British connection

Mr Deripaska, whose company, RusPromAvto, owns number-two Russian carmaker Gaz, has invested heavily overseas in recent months, boosting speculation that he may be interested in the British company.

RusPromAvto deputy chairman Alexander Yushkevich was earlier quoted in the Mail on Sunday as saying that Mr Deripaska was impressed by Rover's 25, 45 and 75 models.

Rovers "are more popular than... Fiats in Russia," he told Russian paper Gazeta.

TVR's owner Nikolai Smolensky has been described as a "baby oligarch"

The Mail on Sunday had said that Mr Deripaska, who has a �25m property in Belgravia, was keen to develop his British interests and would be sending in accountants to look at Rover's books.

The Observer newspaper had tipped Mr Smolensky as a potential buyer.

The TVR owner is the son of banking tycoon Alexander Smolensky, and it was thought that he would want to add Rover's MG sportscar to TVR's sportscar portfolio.

Phil James, a spokesman for Blackpool-based TVR, said he was not aware of any plan.

"Nick bought TVR last year, so now he's in the British auto industry, people make 22 out of two and two," he said. "It's a non-story."