Chinese supermarket chain Times Ltd's majority shareholder has invited bidders to make offers for the retailer, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation.

The shareholder is hoping for more than $560 million for the company, which is 72.3 percent owned by chairman Kenneth Fang and his family, the paper said.

Potential bidders that could include Wumart Stores Inc and Lianhua Supermarket Holdings Co are being asked to pay more than HK$5 ($0.645) per share, the people told the paper.

HSBC Holdings Plc has been hired to sell the company, the paper cited the people as saying.

Times officials in Hong Kong and Shanghai were not immediately available for comment.

($1=7.750 Hong Kong Dollar)

(Reporting by Ajay Kamalakaran in Bangalore; Additional reporting by Donny Kwok in Hong Kong; Editing by Lincoln Feast)

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