Douglas Holding on Monday said it had been talking with private equity firm Charterhouse Capital to buy French perfumery chain Nocibe. The acquisition of Nocibe by the German books-to-cosmetics retailer would set to create the second-largest perfume seller in all of France.

Douglas chief executive Henning Kreke said his company was looking to obtain a significant market share in the EUR 3 billion or USD4.1 billion French perfume market.

Kreke said to reporters, "We've looked at buying Nocibe twice before and we've very happy that we're managing it at the third attempt with our new partner, Advent." Advent, a private equity firm, owns Douglas.

When asked for the value of the acquisition offer, Kreke and Advent managing director Ranjan Sen refused to provide details. However, media reports suggested last week that the deal would be valued around the EUR500 million to EUR550 million range.