CVC Capital Partners has agreed to pay €2.4bn (£1.8bn) for a 25.1 per cent stake in Evonik, the German chemicals, energy and property group, in one of the biggest private equity deals since credit markets crashed last year.
The investment, expected to be agreed last night by Evonik's supervisory board, is an important boost for the group's plan to transfer responsibility for its costly coalmining activities to the German government.
