Sources told Reuters that bathroom equipment manufacturer Grohe received bids from three of its peers. The offers came from Geberit, Lixil and Duratex. Geberit is a Swiss-based sanitary technology solutions provider. Lixil Group is a Japanese sanitary equipment maker while Duratex is a Brazil-based maker of wood panels, china and metal fittings. The final offers were submitted on the deadline Friday. Grohe is owned by private equity firms TPG Capital and the Credit Suisse private equity arm of Credit Suisse.

Two of the sources said the final offers from the three firms valued Grohe at no more than EUR 3 billion. This was about EUR 1 billion lower than the sellers' expected valuation of EUR 4 billion.

The private equity owners of Grohe were selling the company through a dual-track process. They were accepting bids from potential buyers but kept the option of launching an initial public offering. An IPO was still possible, the people with knowledge of the matter said. However, the sellers are in talks with buyers to keep the prices competitive.