(Reuters) - Specialty golf retailer Golfsmith International Inc filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Wednesday and agreed to sell its Canadian retail chain to a group led by Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd (>> Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd) and a unit of CI Investments Inc.

Golfsmith listed both its assets and liabilities at between $100 million and $500 million, according to a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

The company said it plans to sell itself as a going concern and partially liquidate the business. However, if the plan fails, the company plans a full liquidation.

Golfsmith said its Canadian retail chain, Golf Town, had also commenced creditor protection proceedings under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

Golfsmith said it was working with its first-lien lenders to finalize the terms of a $135 million debtor-in-possession financing facility.

The company owes its biggest unsecured creditor, Callaway Golf, $5.5 billion.

Fairfax and CI, which together hold more than 40 percent of Golfsmith's second-lien secured notes due 2018, will help Golfsmith recapitalize and restructure its U.S. business.

The Wall Street Journal had earlier reported that Golfsmith will file for creditor protection in the United States and Canada as early as Wednesday.

The case is in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware, Case No: 16-12033.

(Reporting by Arathy S Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Maju Samuel)

Stocks treated in this article : CI Financial Corp, Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd