Parts of Kroll, the international corporate investigation, fraud and business recovery group, could go up for sale according to owners Marsh & McLennan as it booked a huge $425m (£212m) writedown on the goodwill in Kroll.

The statement comes little more than a week after it emerged that David Buchler, Kroll’s former European chairman, had made approaches to acquire Kroll with the backing of private equity group BC partners.

According to reports in The Financial Times Marsh’s chief executive Brian Duperreault, said that there are parts of Kroll that do not fit with the rest of the group. Marsh acquired Kroll in 2004 for $1.9bn.

However, it remains unclear whether this means corporate restructuring and investigations, the parts thought to be of most interest to Buchler, or whether Buchler would settle for a fragmented business.

Press reports say that there are no acquisition talks currently under way.