WH Smith, the UK retailer, has vowed to plug its own pension fund hole with a £120m (€182m) cash injection just five days after Permira walked away from takeover talks blaming the fund deficit.

WH Smith will put £120m into the fund from new unsecured debt facilities following the sale or demerger of Hodder Headline, its UK publishing business. Greenhill, the company's long-term adviser, has been retained to work on the sale.