The investor has asked Evercore (>> Evercore Partners Inc.) and HSBC (>> HSBC Holdings plc) to find a buyer for a minority or majority stake in the company which it acquired from Switzerland's Clariant (>> Clariant AG) in 2013.

SK Capital and HSBC declined to comment, while Evercore was not immediately available for comment.

Information packages have been sent out to prospective buyers, mainly other private equity firms interested in chemicals companies, such as Advent, Apollo (>> Apollo Global Management LLC), CVC [CVC.UL], Cinven [CINV.UL] and Blackstone (>> Blackstone Group LP), they said. First round offers are due in early February for the supplier of colour and speciality chemicals, used in textiles, paper and packaging as well as by coatings makers, they added. SK Capital and HSBC declined to comment, while Evercore was not immediately available for comment. Archroma is expected to post earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation of about 180 million Swiss francs this year. The seller is hoping for a valuation of up to 9 to 10 times that, while bidders are expected to value it at 7 to 8 times, the people said.

Banks are working on debt packages of more than 900 million francs or more than five times Archroma's core earnings to finance the deal, one of the people said. Since the buyout, SK Capital has made acquisitions for Archroma such as BASF's (>> BASF SE) global textile chemicals business and a stake in peer M. Dohmen. ($1 = 0.9993 Swiss francs)

(Reporting by Arno Schuetze; Editing by Mark Potter/Ruth Pitchford)