Douglas Holding Ag was the final bidder for Nocibe SA. Nocibe was from Charterhouse Capital Partners LLP, a French perfume and cosmetics dealer. Conversely, Douglas Holding Ag was under Advent International Corp. It was a German cosmetics retail outlet that made the last proposal for Nocibe, as stated by sources familiar with the development.

Nocibe was an aggressive rival of Sephora, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA's unit. Nocibe would be sold for approximately Euro 500 million equivalent to US$650 million. According to the sources, LBO France was no longer in contention.

The deal would be completed in the next few weeks.

Advent offered Euro 1.5 billion for Douglas a year ago. Manfed Kroneder, Douglas' board member told reporters that the company intended to become the head in core European markets. It planned to expand through its "targeted acquisitions"

Douglas stated that it earned about Euro 500 million. This would be used to grow its perfumeries company.

Representatives of Advent and Douglas refused to give a comment. A spokesperson of LBO France was not directly available for a statement.