CONDOR Ferries is set to be sold – but the company has insisted there will be “no impact” on its operations.

The firm – which runs services from Poole with the Channel Islands – is owned by an investment fund which is winding down and selling off its assets.

It is expected that the ferry company will be sold in the next 18 to 24 months.

The firm is owned by Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 2 (MEIF2), a “closed end” fund which was set up to take advantage of a growing number of infrastructure investment opportunities in the European Union.

The fund is said to be nearing the end of its “natural life”.

Paul Luxon, Condor Ferries’ chief executive, said: “MEIF2 is a closed end fund, which, as it nears the end of its natural life, is in the process of conducting an orderly divestment of its portfolio.

“There are a number of mechanisms that exist in the fund’s governing documents to facilitate this. As a result, there will be no impact to the operations of Condor or any other asset held by MEIF2.”

Speaking at a sitting of the State of Guernsey, economic development president Charles Parkinson said he expected the firm to be sold in the next 18 to 24 months.

However, he added if no buyer is found the States would have to consider the situation to ensure the ferry company continues to come to Guernsey.

Condor Ferries has been linking Channel Islands with the UK mainland for 54 years.

As well as taking tourists to the Islands, it provides the service which allows 163,000 Channel Islanders to visit the mainland with their cars, and the freight services.

Its roll-on, roll-off freight operation forms 80 per cent of the service supplying the islands.

In recent years, the company was plagued by problems with the £50million fast ferry which it bought and put into service in 2015 as the Condor Liberation.

The Austal 102 craft suffered a succession of hitches including a collision with the quay at St Peter Port in Guernsey on its second day of operation, as well as engine and technical faults.

It was also detained in Poole after an inspection by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency revealed “substantial deficiencies”.

The ferry was again pulled from service last November because of mechanical problems.

Speaking to the Daily Echo last year, Mr Luxon acknowledged the company had faced a “very testing time” but had embarked on an "asset health programme" and had seen reliability and customers satisfaction improve.

As a former Channel Islands government minister, he said, “I’m very well aware of the importance of the ferry service”.

Other investments made by MEIF2 include a major French motorway network and a leading German energy services provider.