The company wants to sell its famous Wotsits brand - made at the Corby factory - to its rivals Walkers Crisps.

But the deal must be approved by the Office of Fair Trading.

A spokesman for Golden Wonder confirmed that employees were told about the sale of the company on Monday.

Bite-sized history

1947: Golden Wonder founded by Scottish bakery owner William Alexander, who named his crisps after a variety of potato 1961: Imperial Foods buys the business 1986: Hanson, which acquired Imerial Foods, sells Golden Wonder to Dalgety 1995: Sold to management, backed by venture capital firm Legal and General Ventures. July 2000: Bought by Bridgepoint in a secondary buyout

The rest of the Corby complex is to be sold off to Longolf, owners of The Snack Factory in Skelmersdale, Lancashire.

The spokesman confirmed it expected up to 150 jobs to go if the Office of Fair Trading allowed the deal with Walkers to go-ahead and production of Wotsits is transferred from the site.

Neither Walkers nor Snack Factory would comment on the plans until the Office of Fair Trading process was complete.

Golden Wonder - based in Market Harborough and employing 1,400 people - has another factory at Scunthorpe.

Bridgepoint Capital has been the largest shareholder in Golden Wonder since the group was bought for �156.5m two years ago.

Bridgeport is said to be more than doubling the value of its holding if the deal goes ahead.