NEW YORK (Reuters) - Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co <GAP.N>, which operates the struggling A&P supermarket chain, is mulling the sale of its Food Emporium stores to boost liquidity, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The supermarket chain, which announced plans last month to close 25 under-performing stores, runs more than 400 stores under the A&P, Waldbaum's, Pathmark, Food Emporium and Food Basics names.
The Food Emporium chain includes 16 stores in Manhattan.
The WSJ report came as the grocery store chain struggles to turn around its business and recently named a new chief executive.
Investment bank Peter J. Solomon has made an effort in recent weeks to gauge potential buyer interest in the Food Emporium chain for A&P, the WSJ said, citing one private equity investor.
The investment bank and Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co could not be reached for comment by Reuters out of regular office hours.
It wasn't immediately clear which other banks may be involved, the WSJ said.
(Reporting by Dhanya Skariachan; Editing by Anshuman Daga)
