Advent International is in the late stages of talks to buy Moeller Holdings, a German electrical engineering company with €1.2bn ($1.4bn) of sales, but could still be trumped by a rival buy-out firm.

The European competition commission has cleared Advent's bid for Moeller, a family-owned company that has considerable financial backing from Commerzbank. However, a spokesman for Moeller said: "There are negotiations about the group of companies but so far there is no final deal. Advent International does not have exclusivity. The shareholders had given exclusivity to CVC but there is no exclusivity now."