PARIS (Reuters) - UK private equity firm Charterhouse [CHCAP.UL] expects to receive initial offers for its 60 percent stake in French call-centre business Webhelp this week, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Webhelp, which specialises in outsourced customer relationship management, is expected to be valued at around 1 billion euros ($1 billion), sources said last month.
"First-round offers are expected this week," one of the people familiar with the matter said.
Charterhouse and Webhelp declined to comment on the timing of offers.
Charterhouse has appointed Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) to handle the deal. It is expected that only private equity firms will bid as the company's founders and management do not plan to sell their 40 percent stake.
Founded in 2000, Webhelp is Europe's third-largest call centre services provider but is expanding across the region. It has said it hopes to become the regional leader, ahead of competitors Teleperformance (PA:ROCH) and Arvato (ARVA.UL) in the next five years.