Orient-Express Hotels is reportedly set to be sold for around £1.5bn.

According to The Times, the company – which owns 38 luxury hotels around the world as well as the famous train – has received approaches from “a number of potential suitors”.

UK-based Von Essen Hotels and US private equity houses Blackstone and Starwood Capital are thought to have expressed an interest.

Orient-Express, which is based in Bermuda and listed on the New York Stock Exchange, is likely to appoint Merrill Lynch as its advisor.

As previously reported in Leisure Opportunities, the company’s chair and founder James Sherwood announced last December that he would be retiring from his executive duties, while last month his stepson, Simon Sherwood, announced he would be stepping down as chief executive in August.