Homebase owner Hilco Capital has been approached by The Range as it gears up to launch a sale of the company.
While city sources said the talks were not guaranteed to lead to a deal, analysts indicated if they did, The Range would like want the majority of the business’s circa 140 stores, according to Sky News.
A formal sale process involving other potential bidders is expected to begin in the following days, one insider revealed.
Other retailers touted in the past as potential bidders for Homebase include B&M European Value Retail, the London-listed discount retailer.
Homebase has had a nomadic existence, being owned at various points by J Sainsbury and then coming under common ownership with Argos as part of Home Retail Group.
In 2018, Homebase went through a company voluntary arrangement which closed a substantial number of stores, renegotiated rent deals and about 1500 job losses.
The turnaround investor succeeded in stabilising it, but saw its fortunes impacted by the pandemic and subsequent cost-of-living crisis.
Homebase lost more than £40million in 2022, according to accounts filed at Companies House, although last year's performance is understood to have been significantly better.