Peacocks chief executive Richard Kirk told The Times that the potential£800 million refinancing of the group may have to wait until next summer.
Kirk said the group was taking a “rain check”, despite speculation that up to five bidders are interested in the business.
Peacocks was taken private by a consortium led by American hedge funds Och-Ziff and Perry Capital in December 2005.
Potential bidders are understood to include Bahrain investment fund Arcapita and private equity houses PAI and Cinven.
Kirk said: “A few months ago there was talk that maybe we should refinance the business because the debt markets were buoyant. As it happens, the debt market has changed – it’s closed – so we have done nothing.
“We are not in active talks to refinance or sell and we will look again next year. It may take two to three months for markets to improve, or it may take until the summer.”
Kirk said Peacocks has the potential to double in size and have 1,000 stores across the UK. It opened its 500th store at the Metro Centre in Gateshead last week.
Kirk said like-for-like sales at Peacocks and Bonmarché are ahead of last year.
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