Elders nearing the end with big sale The end is nigh for embattled rural company Elders - at least in its current form. After nearly eight months of talks, debt-laden Elders has received at least one formal bid for its main rural services business and is working on securing a sale. The agricultural products and real estate business was put on the market in late October 2012, and rival Ruralco was recently given approval from the competition watchdog to pursue a takeover. Elders on Friday said it had received "one or more final or near final bids" for the business, and for its automotive interiors company Futuris. The company gave no indication of who the final bidder, or bidders, are. Elders has already offloaded its forestry business, and is looking to sell the remaining two aspects of its business in order the pay off its debts. Elders said it would now analyse the bids and negotiate with the prospective buyers, and, therefore, was unable to make any announcement about any sales as yet. IG Market analyst Evan Lucas said Elders was in the process of being wound up as it tried to sell one of the biggest parts of its business. "I don't think this would be the complete death knell, but it would certainly be starting to knock," Mr Evans said. Elders is a fully matured business that is well and truly in a decline phase and it does look like some time in the near future we'll probably see Elders ending to be as it is. It's certainly getting closer. He said the company's share price showed Elder's assets were fully valued and had to be sold off. It was a good old business back in the nineties, but unfortunately it's well and truly gone through its heyday. The ongoing sale processes and the deteriorating performance of the agricultural business have caused a massive drop in Elders' share price since mid-2012. Shares in the company have fallen from a high of 28.5 cents in August to their current value of nine cents, wiping more than $87 million from the company's market value. Elders shares remain in a trading halt until June 18 while negotiations take place.