TM Lewin set to choose advisers for £100m sell-off

TM Lewin, the maker of shirts worn by hordes of City workers, is close to appointing advisers to sell the business for up to £100m.

Advisers at Rothschild and Ernst & Young are battling it out to win the mandate to run the auction of TM Lewin, which opened its first store in Jermyn Street in London in 1898.

The shirt and suit retailer, which has 137 stores and concessions globally, suffered a hit to its bottom line last year, but its profit is understood to be more than 10 per cent ahead of budget over the quarter to May.

The chief executive, Geoff Quinn, owns 31 per cent of the retailer, while the rest of the management team accounts for a further 49 per cent. Caird Capital owns the remainder and it has long been speculated it would seek to exit before, or in, 2014.