CVC Capital Partners Ltd, the European private equity firm, is deep in preparations to sell part of its stake in Matas, the drugstore chain, through an IPO. The deal may be announced any time this week, according to three individuals familiar with the negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The IPO sale is being managed by five banks, namely Nordea Bank AB as well as SEB AB. Even with the sale, CVC would retain majority ownership in the company. The share sale would place the enterprise value of the firm to about 6 billion kroner or US$1 billion.

CVC Capital spokesperson declined to make any comment on the matter while calls were made to Matas to confirm the details but they were not immediately answered.

CVC purchased Matas back in February 2007. The IPO of Matas would be the first for the year for the Copenhagen stock exchange since 2010. The last deal of this size was when Zealand Pharma A/S sold its shares on the bourse.