John Lewis Partnership in understood to be in talks about raising as much as £150m from a sale and leaseback deal of a dozen Waitrose supermarkets.
The business will begin marketing the stores from next week, which are predominantly located in the south of England with 20-year inflation-linked leases, Bloomberg reported.
CBRE is understood to be acting as property agent, but sources told the publication that there was no certainty a deal would take place.
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It comes as John Lewis Partnership recently pushed back its turnaround plan by an extra two years, with chairwoman Sharon White blaming stubbornly high inflation and the “cost-of-living crunch” for hindering the process.
It is thought the business is facing challenges in raising the extra capital it needs to fund its grand turnaround plan.
White was forced to defend the Partnership structure back in March following reports she was seeking external investment that could potentially put its mutual model at risk.
The business narrowed its first-half loss of £57.3m earlier this month, a 14% improvement on last year, helped by a 2% increase in total sales.
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