Struggling retailer Daiei Inc. and its main creditor UFJ Bank have decided to sell Daiei's professional baseball club, the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks, as well as two other businesses in Fukuoka, a major newspaper said Saturday.

Daiei has been trying to reduce its huge debt by shedding the unprofitable Fukuoka businesses, which include the Fukuoka Dome baseball stadium and managing the adjacent Sea Hawk Hotel and Resort. Daiei will first decide on a buyer for the Fukuoka Dome stadium and will give it the right to designate a buyer for the professional ball club, the Mainichi Shimbun said.

The new ball club owner would hold 60 percent of its stake and up to 30 percent would be put up by Fukuoka-based companies, the newspaper said. If everything goes smoothly, the sale of the ball club will be completed by the end of this year, the newspaper said.