PAI, the French private equity house recently spun out of BNP Paribas, and CVC Capital Partners, the European buy-out house, have bought a 54% stake in Provimi, the animal nutrition group, for €203m ($198m).

The private equity firms offered €14.5 per share for the stake, owned by Edison, the Italian energy company, a discount of around 25% to Provimi's share price on Monday morning.