BC Partners to buy Spanish bridal wear designer Pronovias

MADRID, July 10 (Reuters) - British private equity group BC Partners (IOB: 0QOQ.IL - news) has agreed to buy a majority stake in Barcelona bridal wear designer Pronovias, its first Spanish purchase in six years.

The two companies, in a statement, did not disclose the value of the deal, which is still subject to anti-trust approvals but said it is expected to close in the third quarter of this year.

La Vanguardia newspaper said BC Partners was paying 550 million euros ($627 million) to buy 100 percent of Pronovias. Founder and owner Alberto Palatchi would later buy back 10 percent of the company and will remain a minority shareholder, the newspaper said.

A spokesman for BC Partners declined to disclose the price paid or the exact stake size taken in Pronovias. The company was founded in 1964 by Palatchi and its bridal and cocktail dresses are sold through nearly 4,000 retailers worldwide and its own 45 stores.

BC Partners, spun out of Barings Bank in 1995, sold a stake in Spanish travel industry IT provider Amadeus as part of a 2010 stock market listing and fully exited the company in 2011. ($1 = 0.8779 euros) (Reporting By Sonya Dowsett; Editing by Jesús Aguado and Susan Fenton)