OGF is France's leading funeral services firm. According to sources familiar with the matter said on Monday, three private equity firms have submitted their bids for OGF.

Lion Capital, TDR Capital and Pamplona Capital Management have made it through the second round of bidding for OGF. The funeral operator is owned by buyout firm Astorg Partners. CVC has also been seen as a possible bidder for the deal. This was according to Goldman Sachs which manages CVC.

According to bankers, the second round bids for the auction would end by the last week of July.

OGF's EBITDA was at Eur100 million. The funeral services company could sell for Eur800 million to Eur1 billion including debt as stated by sources.

Astorg refused to comment. Lion Capital, TDR and Pamplona declined to give statements about the report. The officials at Goldman Sachs could not be immediately reached to give statements.

Last June, banking sources told Reuters RLPC that bankers were putting together roughly Eur700 million of debt financing to back the possible sale. The said sale would be the latest in a series of efforts by private equity companies to sell on firms that were bought during the 2006-2007 booming Europe buyout market.