By Arno Schuetze, Pamela Barbaglia and Martinne Geller
FRANKFURT/LONDON (Reuters) - Private equity firms Cinven and Advent have teamed up to bid in an auction that could value Nestle's (S:NESN) skin health business at about 7 billion Swiss francs ($7 billion), three sources familiar with the matter said.
Private equity companies Blackstone (N:BX), KKR (N:KKR), Carlyle, CVC, EQT and Partners Group are also expected to bid and might look for partners, according to the sources, who declined to be identified as the process is private.
Information memorandums on the sale, being run by Credit Suisse (SIX:CSGN) and Evercore, are expected to be sent by the end of January and first-round bids are likely to be submitted in early March, the sources added.
Nestle and all the potential suitors declined to comment.
($1 = 0.9972 Swiss francs)