Private equity firm Cinven in talks to buy chemicals firm CHRYSO

PARIS (Reuters) - Private equity firm Cinven is in talks to buy CHRYSO, a French chemicals group with 2016 sales of 300 million euros (260 million pounds), from LBO France, the companies said on Friday. Cinven said it believed CHRYSO, which specialises in chemicals used in the building industry, had the potential to grow strongly, with opportunities in markets such as the Middle East and Asia. LBO France acquired CHRYSO in October 2014 from French private equity firm Wendel , which split up and sold off parts of its building materials business Materis. The financial terms of the planned acquisition of CHRYSO, which is headquartered in France and has around 1,130 staff, were not disclosed by the companies. Record low interest rates in the euro zone have buoyed private equity debt-funded takeover deals in recent years. Cinven is also currently among the bidders for German drugmaker Stada , while on Friday Carlyle Group announced the takeover of Royal Dutch Shell's onshore oil fields in Gabon for $587 million. LBO France said it had been advised on the deal by Rothschild and Sycomore Corporate Finance. (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Adrian Croft)