Penguin To Close Book On Dorling Kindersley

Potential buyers will hope that the force is with them.

Dorling Kindersley, the imprint behind long-running book series about Star Wars and James Bond, is being groomed for a sale by its owner, Penguin Random House.

Sky News understands that the publishing giant has been in talks with investment banks about advising on an auction of Dorling Kindersley, which was founded in London in 1974 and describes itself as "the world's leading illustrated reference publisher".

It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) publishes series both for children, with books from brands such as Lego, and adults, with the cookery writer Mary Berry among its catalogue of prominent authors.

Sources said that Penguin Random House was "exploring" a sale and that it could decide not to pursue a formal auction.

Penguin Random House is 47%-owned by Pearson (Xetra: 858266 - news) , the FTSE-100 company which last year sold the Financial Times and its stake in The Economist.

The rest of the company is owned by Bertelsmann, the German media group, following a merger of their book publishing divisions in 2013.

Under an agreement between them, Pearson can sell its stake to its fellow shareholder at any point, although John Fallon, the UK-based company's chief executive, has said it is unlikely to happen until 2017.

Dorling Kindersley was acquired by Pearson in 2000 for £311m after it ran into financial difficulties, having placed excessive orders for Star Wars-branded books that it was unable to sell.

A Penguin Random House spokeswoman said: "While we don't comment on rumours and speculation, it is business as usual at DK, which remains an important and valued member of our Penguin Random House family."

Pearson declined to comment.