The Asian arm of Bell Pottinger is preparing to split off from the scandal-hit PR agency under a new name, as its parent teeters on the brink of administration.

The firm’s Singapore-based operation intends to rebrand as Klareco Communications, which means “clarity” in Esperanto. The name choice is a pointed attempt to distance the unit from the secret campaign to stir racial tension in South Africa that has destroyed the reputation of its owner.

“Klareco is the Esperanto word for clarity, Esperanto is the international language of hope and harmony,” said Piers Pottinger, the co-founder of Bell Pottinger, who is leading a management buyout attempt on the Asian office. “We have chosen it because it reflects the true values of us here and is something [that reflects] a clean break and that is what we have done.”

The Asian unit’s management has put in an offer to the accountancy firm BDO, which is attempting to find buyers for the entire Bell Pottinger business, and the Singapore team is optimistic that its bid will be accepted.

“We are a separate legal entity anyway so we are not affected by the imminent administration,” said Pottinger, speaking to the Guardian. “We will be making an offer to the administrator who will hopefully accept it. We are trading as a going concern and the administrator will probably be minded to accept an offer as it is one part of the problem they can solve really rapidly and reduce a whole lot of costs.”

Piers Pottinger said the Asian operation was profitable and “trading very robustly”. Its clients include digital payment firm Paypal. Bell Pottinger’s Asian operation employs about 50 staff and is headquartered in Singapore with offices in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Kuala Lumpur and Myanmar.

Meanwhile, the London-based Bell Pottinger parent company is expected to be forced into administration on Tuesday unless a buyer can be found. With no salvage plan in place senior staff will be free to move on with clients who wish to continue working with them.

“It’s very focused now,” said one partner at the agency. “It’s a race to pick up clients and start again.”

Bell Pottinger also has a business in the Middle East, with offices in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It is also expected to consider separating from the parent company.

It has also emerged that South Africa’s Democratic Alliance National party is pushing for access to 45,000 documents that could shed more light on the relationship between Bell Pottinger and Oakbay, the client that commissioned the secret campaign to stir up racial tension which is owned by one of the country’s richest and most controversial families, the Guptas.

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Existence of the documents were revealed by Herbert Smith Freehills, the law firm Bell Pottinger hired to investigate the scandal. The documents were used as the basis for an independent report that found the agency’s campaign to be “potentially racially divisive”.

“We are in the process of considering what options we have available to get hold of the 45,000 documents,” said Phumzile Van Damme, MP and party spokesman. “We would like to see the documents ourselves so we can have the full truth about the brief Bell Pottinger was given by the Gupta family and President Jacob Zuma’s son, Duduzane Zuma [who works for Oakbay and developed the campaign with the agency].”