TROUBLED telecoms firm Marconi is selling its 50 per cent stake in Hotpoint-owner General Domestic Appliances in a £144m deal.

The group is selling the stake to Italian firm Merloni Elettrodomestici, for £121m, while it will also receive a dividend of £23m.

The sale is one of a number of disposals aimed at cutting Marconi's debt mountain amid a tough time for the firm, which has axed thousands of staff and issued shock profit warnings.

General Domestic Appliances, which employs 7,000 staff in the UK, was established in 1989 as a joint venture between GEC - the former defence and communi- cations firm renamed Marconi in 1999 - and General Electric of the US.

It is the largest supplier of domestic appliances to the UK market, and the largest service provider for the sector.

The group designs, makes and services appliances including gas and electric cookers, washing machines, spin and tumble dryers, refrigerators and gas fires under names including Hotpoint, Creda and Cannon.

It has four sites in the UK, at Stoke-on-Trent, Bristol, Bodelwyddan in Wales and Peterborough. It also employs 120 staff in Ireland. For the year to March 31, the group generated profits of £36m.

Marconi had been aiming to reduce its debts to between £2.7bn and £3.2bn by March next year. To do this, it aimed to raise £500m from non-core disposals.