US catalogue retailer Spiegel is to sell the Eddie Bauer apparel chain as it tries to emerge from bankruptcy protection.

The disposal could raise as much as $800 million (€662m; £437m). Eddie Bauer operates almost 450 stores plus catalogue and internet businesses.

Spiegel, one of the oldest names in the catalogue sector, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March last year after running up debts of $1.71 billion [WAMN: 19-Mar-03].

"We will evaluate the level of interest from potential buyers as we continue to work to develop a plan of reorganization," commented Spiegel's interim ceo Bill Kosturos. "We believe that the value of the Eddie Bauer business can be best realized by pursuing a sale at this time."

Data sourced from: BrandWeek.com; additional content by WARC staff