Mark Raban has resigned as CEO of Lookers and will leave the group at the end of this year. The announcement comes as the retailer has also announced around 200 redundancies linked to the privatisation of the business.

A spokesman for Lookers said: “A number of people linked to the central support function of running a PLC have had redundancy proposed. That number is around 3% of the 6,500 staff at Lookers.”

“Unfortunately, now that Lookers is no longer listed on the London Stock Exchange, a certain number of corporate and support roles that relate to its status as a listed company may be affected by this proposed programme.

“In keeping with normal practice, we have notified those employees who are affected via a formal letter, explaining that we have now entered the formal consultation period with employee representatives as a next step.”

The move follows the takeover of Lookers by Canadian firm Alpha Auto Group for £504 million in October. Auto Retail Agenda understands the cutbacks will help reduce costs enabling the firm to better service the debt of the purchase.

Lookers has not yet announced a replacement for Raban.