Carlyle Group is locked in a dispute with one of Greece’s richest entrepreneurs over Neochimiki, the Athens-based chemicals distributor, which fell deep into loss soon after having been bought by the US private equity group last year.

Lavrentis Lavrentiadis, formerly Neochimiki’s largest shareholder and chief executive, offered in June to buy back up to half the company from Carlyle after its 2008 results fell well short of projections, according to people familiar with the talks.