Barneys New York Inc's owner, Dubai's Istithmar World, may sell the US luxury retailer less than two years after buying it as the fund struggles with losses and the luxury market slows, Bloomberg reported.

Istithmar doesn't want to sell the business for less than the $942.3 million it paid in 2007, it quoted one source as saying.

The state-owned fund has had calls from potential buyers and would sell its entire stake.

Istithmar CEO David Jackson declined to comment, Bloomberg said.

The Dubai investment fund has struggled to expand Barneys outside the US after Howard Socol resigned as chief executive in May and the luxury market withered.

Istithmar was one of seven Gulf funds that lost a cumulative 15 percent in 2008, according to Saudi bank Samba Financial Group.

As of last year, it managed more than $10 billion. The fund also owns 20 percent of Canadian circus troupe Cirque du Soleil and a majority of Gulf Stream Asset Management, Bloomberg reported. - Reuters