Whisky distiller Glenmorangie has announced that it is in talks with a number of potential suitors about a takeover.

The company, one of the largest remaining independent companies in the Scotch whisky industry, said it was in preliminary discussions with a number of potentially interested parties that may result in an offer for Glenmorangie.

The group said it had told advisors to seek offers after its founding family, the Macdonalds - who, together with trusts, control more than half the company's voting rights - said they wanted to sell their stakes.

As well as its head office and warehouse site in Broxburn, near Edinburgh, the company has two distilleries producing its premium malt whisky brands, which include Glenmorangie, Glen Moray and Ardbeg.

Glenmorangie has 390 staff, produces 1.6 million cases of whisky a year and has a market capitalisation of about £190m, although that does not include brand goodwill or the potential sale value of the group's whisky stocks.

Estimates have put the company's potential value at about £300m, although it is unclear how much of that would go to the Macdonald family.

A spokeswoman for the group said the Macdonald family realised it could not be a controlling shareholder forever and had decided to leave the group from a position of strength.

Glenmorangie A shares, the commonest stock held, yesterday rose by 26 per cent, or 272p, to close at 1330p.