CD&R swallows sausage casings maker Kalle

LONDON, April 29 (Reuters) - U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . buyout house Clayton Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) has bought German sausage casings maker Kalle from Silverfleet Capital, the companies said on Friday.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but two sources familiar with the process said the price was towards the upper end of 450-500 million euros ($512-569 million).

Kalle was purchased by Silverfleet in 2009, and had turnover of more than 281 million euros last year.

In March 2010, Silverfleet syndicated part of its investment, with British private equity firm Electra investing 9 million pounds ($13 million) in the business. Electra (Tel Aviv: ELTR.TA - news) has also sold its stake.

Reuters reported in September that Rothschild was advising on a possible sale or IPO.

"Because of the turbulent stock markets we decided against a listing that we had worked on for long, and concentrated on the sales process," Guido May, a partner at Silverfleet, told Reuters.

"A new owner with deeper pockets than we had can develop Kalle further. For example, the U.S. market would deliver great opportunities for growth."

($1 = 0.8783 euros)

($1 = 0.6859 pounds) (Reporting by Freya Berry and Alexander Huebner; Editing by Mark Potter)