Carlyle, Bain vie for PAI's Gruppo Coin stake

Carlyle Group and Bain Capital LLC are among at least five companies that submitted bids for PAI Partners’ majority stake in Gruppo Coin SpA, Italy’s biggest department-store chain, according to four people with knowledge of the offers.

TPG Capital, based in Fort Worth, Texas, and London-based BC Partners Ltd also submitted indicative offers for the stake last week, said the people, who declined to be identified because the sale process is private. Apax Partners LLP and Cinven Ltd opted not to bid, the people said.

PAI, which leads a group of investors that owns 70 per cent of the retailer, is seeking to shed Coin after a five-year investment during which the retailer added stores and revived its discount-clothing unit. Shares of Coin, based in Venice, have risen 60 per cent this year in Milan, boosting the company’s market value to 1.02 billion euros ($1.34 billion).

Final bids will be sought after the company reports holiday sales figures, people familiar with the sale have previously said. UBS AG and Mediobanca SpA are advising PAI.

Apax said in October it was considering making an offer for Coin. Clessidra SGR SpA, an Italian firm, may bid jointly with another fund, a spokesman said at that time. The Borletti Group, an investor in department stores including France’s Printemps and Italy’s La Rinascente, may bid for Coin, Chairman Maurizio Borletti said last month.