The Blackstone Group, the US-based private equity group, is set to raise $447m (€372.8m) from the sale of part of its stake in Celanese. Blackstone floated the German specialist chemical company earlier this year, nine months after buying it.

Blackstone said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it intends to sell 23 million Celanese shares at $19.44 each, reducing its stake from 62.4% to 50.76%.