Lloyds Banking Group has appointed corporate finance advisory firm AlixPartners as official receivers for Press Acquisitions, the company controlled by the Barclay family.
The bank is seeking a sale of the titles in a bid to recover debts owed by the network of holding companies.
The titles are reportedly worth between £500m and £600m.
In a statement, Lloyds Banking Group said: “The decision... follows numerous discussions with B.UK's parent company, Penultimate Investment Holdings Limited (PIHL). The aim of these discussions, which were held over a long period and undertaken in good faith, had been to find a consensual solution and repayment of PIHL's borrowing to Bank of Scotland.”
“Unfortunately, no agreement could be reached.”
The bank said, “it was willing to continue discussions to find a suitable solution.”
Keep up-to-date with publishing news: sign up here for InPubWeekly, our free weekly e-newsletter.
