Equity fund LBO France is in exclusive negotiations to acquire French ambient desserts and jams firm Materne-Mont Blanc.

A source close to the negotiations told  that the talks were in progress over Materne-Mont Blanc, which private-equity firm Activa Capital put up for sale earlier this year. LBO France has been designated as preferred bidder for the company, seeing off competition from French counterpart Eurazeo and the UK's CapVest.

LBO France's bid is reported to value Materne at over EUR190m (US$265.9m) but this was not confirmed by the source.