Five companies are already in the final round to find a new owner for supermarket chain C1000 and a sixth will join them shortly, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Wednesday.

The bidders include private equity groups BC Partners and Bain Capital, while supermarket operators Sligro, Jumbo and Germany’s Edeka are also in the running, the paper says.
Sperwer, owner of the Plus supermarket chain, did not pass the initial bidding round because its offer was too low.
Competition
The paper says the sale has raised the stakes in the Dutch food retail sector, where turnover is flat and there is little opportunity to develop new stores. Growth can only really be generated by takeovers, making competition for C1000 intense.
Private equity Group CVC Capital Partners put C1000 up for sale in the early autumn. At the time, sources told Bloomberg C1000 could raise as much as €1bn.
CVC took C1000 over in 2008. The chain has around 400 outlets and a market share of 12%.