A London-listed supplier of fireplace security providers backed by Lord Ashcroft, the previous Conservative Party treasurer, is exploring a sale of its largest division in a transfer that would generate proceeds of about £650m.

Sky News has learnt that Marlowe is working with bankers at Rothschild on a overview of its testing, inspection and certification (TIC) division, which accounts for the lion's share of its income.

City sources stated a course of to carry exploratory talks with potential bidders had received beneath manner in current weeks.

Based on current transactions within the sector, a sale of the unit might yield a valuation of as much as 16 occasions its annual revenue, equating to roughly £650m.

Insiders cautioned, nonetheless, {that a} sale would solely happen if bidders met administration's expectations.

Marlowe was fashioned as a money shell by Lord Ashcroft and Alex Dacre, and bought its first working enterprise when it purchased Swift Fire & Security in 2016.

Lord Ashcroft, the one-time prolific Tory donor, nonetheless owns about 12% of the corporate, price greater than £70m at Thursday's closing share value of 592p.

A sale of its TIC enterprise would successfully represent a break-up of the group and go away it to deal with its higher-margin operations in areas resembling compliance software program.

A spokesman for Marlowe declined to remark.

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The potential sale of its testing and inspection arm comes amid a frenetic interval of company exercise throughout the sector in Europe.

Plenty of buyout companies are reportedly circling Applus, a Spanish-headquartered firm working in an identical house.

Sources say that Isquared Capital, an infrastructure investor which collectively owns the short-term energy enterprise Aggreko within the UK, is getting ready to launch a bid for Applus as quickly as subsequent week.

Any supply can be prone to worth the corporate at roughly €2.2bn together with debt.

Isquared is reportedly working with TDR Capital, the personal fairness group with which it owns Aggreko, on its bid.

Advisers at Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are stated to be concerned with the potential supply.

Apax and Apollo Global Management have additionally been reported to be analyzing bids for Applus.

Isquared declined to remark.