An announcement is expected today about whether Blackwell Publishing will be sold off following a crisis board meeting yesterday.

A rebel group of Blackwell family members forced the board to consider selling the business for an estimated £400m.

In a simmering row which reached boiling point over the weekend, it emerged that board chairman Nigel Blackwell favoured retaining the company before floating it on the London Stock Exchange in two to three years.

But his uncle, Julian, also known as Toby, Blackwell, wants to sell the company as soon as possible and end 76 years of family ownership.

He proposed the board should set up a committee to consider selling the publishing arm of the business.

Julian Blackwell owns about 30 per cent of the voting shares of Blackwell Publishing. Another company he controls, Blackwell Limited, owns another 9.3 per cent. His son Philip, a board member, owns about 5.3 per cent.

Nigel Blackwell owns about 42 per cent.

The remainder of shares are owned by about 50 former employees.

Shares in Blackwell Science fell in value from £15.33 to £8.31, after its merger with Blackwell Publishing last year.

A spokesman for Toby Blackwell said the market was ripe for selling the company in a trade sale, thereby achieving seven or eight times the book value for the shares.

He said many of the former employee-shareholders wanted to realise their funds.