French truck hire company Fraikin has been sold to a US buyout firm only days ahead of a €600m ($798m) Paris listing, despite the company's chief executive saying the business was "not attractive" to a private equity buyer.

Eurazeo, the French buyout firm with a majority stake in Fraikin, this morning said it had sold the business to US buyout firm CVC, despite the company's chief executive, Olivier de la Morinière, telling Financial News last week that a sale of the business to a private equity buyer was no longer being pursued.