WHSmith's title is about to vanish from British excessive streets after greater than 230 years of buying and selling.
The retail chain is planning to promote its excessive avenue enterprise with out the rights to its model title.
The transfer comes as a part of WHSmith's technique to give attention to its core journey enterprise, as introduced in late January.
First-round bids for the excessive avenue chain had been submitted final week, with funding corporations Alteri and Modella Capital exhibiting curiosity within the acquisition.
The public sale course of is being run by bankers from Greenhill, based on The Sunday Occasions.
Each Alteri and Modella Capital specialize in shopping for and restructuring distressed retailers.
Canadian tycoon Doug Putman, who beforehand rescued HMV, can also be reportedly amongst potential consumers.
WHSmith "is known to consider that it isn’t sensible to have two individually owned companies buying and selling underneath the identical model," based on The Occasions.
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Shares in WHSmith closed 0.3 per cent decrease at 1,159.00 pence in London on Friday.
The end result of a sale would nearly definitely outcome within the disappearance of a excessive avenue model that has been an ever-present since 1792.
The Occasions famous this "will increase considerations that the retail group is in search of to distance itself from any fallout from the sale".
Potential consumers will probably be set a timeframe underneath which they would wish to relinquish the model title.
Whereas licensing the WHSmith model title is known to be unlikely, it isn’t totally out of the query.
WHSmith's excessive avenue arm at the moment operates 500 shops throughout the UK, with nearly 200 containing a submit workplace.
The typical lease size for these shops is simply two years, which might enable a brand new proprietor to rapidly shut underperforming retailers.
The excessive avenue enterprise generated a buying and selling revenue of £32million on gross sales of £452million within the 12 months to August.
Like-for-like gross sales fell three per cent within the excessive avenue enterprise through the 21 weeks to January 25.
The group's journey retail enterprise, which trades underneath the WHSmith banner in addition to InMotion and MRG, generates 85 per cent of the group's revenue.
Any new proprietor will face vital challenges, together with subdued shopper spending and rising prices.
Will increase within the minimal wage and employers' Nationwide Insurance coverage contributions will add £20million to WHSmith's price base this 12 months.
Retail professional Richard Hyman of Aria Clever Options consultancy mentioned: "WHSmith has a really disparate product providing and the model title has been the glue that has held it collectively – with out that it's going to be very troublesome [for a new buyer]."
The retailer began as a information vendor and as soon as owned bookseller Waterstones and music retailer Our Value.
The corporate loved its "halcyon days" within the Seventies and Eighties.
As customers started deserting the excessive avenue, WHSmith responded by slicing prices and decreasing funding in its excessive avenue shops.
Regardless of this, Patrick O'Brien, retail analysis director at GlobalData, mentioned the model nonetheless "has a spot within the nation's coronary heart".