Taylor Wimpey puts construction arm up for sale

The sale documents have been put out to the market to gauge the level of interest in the firm, Building reported this week. However, despite being worth about £150m, Taywood may not make any money for Taylor Wimpey as a result of the £70m sitting on the division's books and its pension fund deficit.

A source quoted by Building said: "The structure of the deal will be very complex but the upshot is that it's not going to plug any of its £1.7bn debt." Another source suggested that the housebuilder may struggle to find a buyer for the £609m-turnover company.