New York-based Arsenal Capital Partners has authorised investment bank Moelis to organise the auction, which is expected to launch in the coming weeks, the sources said.

Arsenal was not available for comment. Moelis declined to comment.

Peers as well as private equity groups will be targeted in the sale, the sources said.

IGM Resins' rivals include Advent-owned Allnex, France's Arkema and Netherlands-based DSM (>> Royal DSM). It was unclear whether any of them would bid for the company.

IGM Resins was founded in 1999 as a one-man chemical company start-up.

It produces photoinitiators, monomers, oligomers and additives. Arsenal bought a majority stake in 2012.

In 2016, IGM bought a BASF unit making photoinitiators, which are used in radiation-curing formulations in various industries.

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger and Arno Schuetze; editing by Tom Balmforth)

Stocks treated in this article : Royal DSM, Arkema, BASF, Moelis & Co