THE administrators of Swindon-based Reader’s Digest UK have revealed that there has been “significant interest” from potential buyers of the business, and confirmed the magazine would continue to be published until at least April.

The 72-year-old British edition of the magazine collapsed into administration earlier this month when its embattled US parent Reader’s Digest Association (RDA) said it was no longer able to support it following a crisis in its pension fund.

As well as 135 jobs at stake in the UK, in London and at Blagrove in Swindon, there are also 1,600 members of its pension fund, said to be worth £125 million, who are worried about the payment of their retirement benefits.

Administrator Philip Sykes, of Moore Stephens, said there was “significant interest” as he sought a buyer for the business.

Mr Sykes said: “While we are reasonably optimistic, it is difficult to predict a timescale, but negotiations with interested parties have begun.”

The administrators said the April issue of Reader’s Digest would be published and RDA’s sales team was marketing advertising space to media agencies for the May issue.

They said future campaigns were being reviewed and prize draws were continuing.

Reader’s Digest employs 117 staff in the UK has a circulation of 465,028. It has 35 staff based in Swindon.

Reader’s Digest UK called in administrators after it failed to secure regulatory backing for a funding deal for its pension scheme, which has a £125m shortfall.

The UK Pensions Regulator ruled against proposals that would have seen the US parent inject £10.9m as a lump sum and one third of the equity of the UK business into the pension fund. This left the UK publisher unable to meet its pension obligations and RDA said it would therefore not be able to continue operations.

The group stressed the UK administration would not impact its other titles across the world.

The administration of the UK arm marked the latest blow to the Reader’s Digest empire, which once boasted more than two million readers in theUK. Its US parent hit hard times after embarking on a highly leveraged $2.8bn (£1.8bn) buyout deal that was backed by private equity.

The US firm filed for bankruptcy protection last August after battling financial difficulties as it laboured under vast interest payments on a $2.2bn debt pile (£1.4bn).

This has now been reduced to $500m (£314.7m).