According to Kodak the asset sale, along with continued cost-reduction initiatives, curtailment of its legal liabilities and the "monetisation" of its digital patent portfolio, will form a "significant milestone" towards the completion of its reorganisation during 2013. The sales were targeted for completion during the first half of next year, the company said.

In a statement released on Kodak’s website chief executive Antonio Perez said that personalized and document imaging were valuable businesses that enjoyed leading market positions as a result of superior products and service offerings.

He added: "The initiation of a process to sell [the businesses] is an important step in our company’s reorganisation to focus our business on the commercial markets and enable Kodak to accelerate its momentum toward emergence.

"We are reshaping Kodak. We continue to rebalance our company toward commercial, packaging and functional printing – in which we have the broadest portfolio solutions – and enterprise services. These businesses have substantial long-term growth prospects worldwide and are core to the future of Kodak."

The personalised imaging business consists of Retail Systems Solutions, which owns 105,000 Kodak picture kiosks globally, Paper and Output Systems and Event Imaging Solutions. The document imaging business provides scanners, capture software and services for enterprise customers.

The company said it would continue to own and operate its consumer inkjet, entertainment imaging, commercial film and speciality chemical businesses.

The imaging giant filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January this year with plans to use funds raised from the auction of 1,100 of its digital imaging patents – worth an estimated $2.6bn (£1.7bn) - to help it successfully turnaround next year.

A number of companies including Apple and FlashPoint Technology had objected to the sale of their patents however a US bankruptcy judge ruled in favour of Kodak.

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