Banks and private credit lenders are working on debt financing packages of around €2bn to support a transaction, including a €1.5bn term loan and payment-in-kind instruments that would push leverage as high as nine times EBITDA.

Sebia, headquartered in Lisses, provides diagnostic systems and reagents used in disease detection and monitoring, particularly oncology, and supplies over 120 countries. The company was acquired in 2018 by CVC and Tethys, the investment firm of L’Oréal heiress Françoise Bettencourt Meyers.