Sir Anthony O'Reilly is actively seeking to sell The Independent newspaper 11 years after taking control of the title.

Independent News & Media is looking for investors who might be willing to buy The Independent outright or to take a controlling stake. A merger with another London daily is also considered an option.

Sir Anthony, Independent News & Media's chief executive, and his son Gavin, who is due to take over from him in May, have conceded that the level of the losses The Independent is now incurring are unsustainable. The Independent, the fourth-ranked upmarket UK daily, and its Sunday sister title are expected to lose more than £10 million this year.

Compounding the newspaper's woes is the €1.4 billion (£1.24 billion) of debt that is burdening its parent company and a critical €200 million bond that is due to be paid next month.

The Dublin-based publisher, which has newspapers in Ireland, South Africa and Australasia, has asked Nicholas Shott, a media banker at Lazard, to drum up interest, although work remains at an early stage. Mr Shott, a former newspaper executive with the now-defunct Sunday Correspondent, previously handled the sale of The Daily Telegraph and the Evening Standard — the last two London newspapers to change hands.

The scale of the trawl suggests that bidders are widely sought although intense speculation remains that Alexander Lebedev, the Russian oligarch who bought the Standard in January, will emerge as The Independent's owner.

Employees of The Independent are in the process of moving to join the Standard and Daily Mail titles in their offices in High Street, Kensington. Executives from the Standard and The Independent have been engaged in discussions in recent weeks about various potential cost-saving arrangements, although it is not clear how far the effort will extend. A merger between the titles would be a logical extension of those discussions.

The Independent's financial position means it is unlikely to fetch more than £1 in a sale — the same price that was paid for the Standard and the price of a single copy of the newspaper.

The sale of The Independent would cap a retreat for the under-pressure Sir Anthony, whose company, as well as wrestling with debt, has been under siege from Denis O'Brien, his second-largest shareholder.

Once derided by the O'Reillys as a “rogue shareholder”, Mr O'Brien has had to be accommodated to allow him three appointments to Independent News & Media's board.

Mr O'Brien has called for a sale of The Independent in the past. Although he has been more diplomatic since his nominees joined the board last month, insiders say that they are now exerting considerable influence. That has given Sir Anthony and Gavin little choice but to respond. However, Mr O'Brien is expected to work with Sir Anthony in providing cash to help partly pay off the €200 million bond.

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