Buyout groups prepare final bids for payments group Concardis - sources

FRANKFURT, Dec (Shanghai: 600875.SS - news) 12 (Reuters) - Buyout groups are preparing final bids for German payments group Concardis in a deal potentially valuing the group at more than 600 million euros ($636 million), people close to the matter said on Thursday.

CVC (Taiwan OTC: 4744.TWO - news) , Bridgepoint and a consortium of Advent and Bain are expected to hand in an offer for the group, which is jointly-held by several German banks, by a deadline early next week, the people said, adding that strategic players such as Wirecard (IOB: 0O8X.IL - news) have dropped out of the race.

Concardis' largest shareholder is Deutsche Bank (IOB: 0H7D.IL - news) with a 16 percent stake while smaller stakes are held by Commerzbank (Xetra: CBK100 - news) , Unicredit (EUREX: DE000A163206.EX - news) as well as savings banks and cooperative banks. They are expected to decide on a buyer earlier next year.

($1 = 0.9439 euros) (Reporting by Alexander Hübner, Dasha Afanasieva and Arno Schuetze; Editing by Tina Bellon)