Just over six weeks after troubled Esprit’s European business filed for bankruptcy, the parent company Esprit Holdings Limited is looking to sell its brands and domains in China.

It a stock exchange filing, it said it has received “several proposals and offers from various independent third parties regarding potential cooperation and/or investments that could benefit the group. Though no legal-binding agreement or definitive agreement has been entered into by the company… management is currently in the final stages of negotiation with an independent third party for the possible disposal of trade marks, and the main domain names in the Greater China region”.

The deal, which would bring in US$47.5 million (around €44 million), includes the business in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau.

The company said that the present time, it “generates negligible revenue and incurs losses from its operations in the Greater China markets”.

On signing the definitive agreement(s), the group is expected to receive an initial payment of $10 million and the proceeds would be used for the general working capital of the group. 

But the board has stressed that no irreversible agreement has been signed and the final terms “are subject to further negotiations between the parties and may therefore be different from those set out in this announcement”.

Esprit, which is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, may get “negligible revenue” from Greater China but just a couple of years ago, CEO William Pak was targeting Hong Kong and Taiwan as key markets for e-commerce growth.

As mentioned, the European business — that is Esprit Europe GmbH and six other subsidiaries — are going through insolvency proceedings and it’s unclear who might end up owning them. 

Earlier reports had said the CBR Group and its owner Alteri were interested in licensing rights, but that prospect appears to have receded.