Wesfarmers will face an uphill battle finding a buyer for its beleaguered home improvement venture in the UK and Ireland as it tries to cauterise the self-inflicted wound before it haemorrhages even more money, according to one experienced British DIY retailer.

The Australian retail conglomerate has brought in investment bank Lazard to sound out potential new owners for Bunnings UK and Ireland [BUKI] as part of a review into the business that some analysts have described as a bigger corporate disaster than Woolworths' Masters Home Improvement experiment.

Wesfarmers is sounding out buyers for its UK Homebase and Bunnings stores. Credit:Bloomberg

Wesfarmers paid $705 million for the Homebase chain in 2016. It has 231 stores as well as 19 outlets that have been converted into Bunnings stores.

BUKI lost $89 million last year and $165 million in the first half this year, and Wesfarmers wrote down its investment by $1 billion in early February.