Private equity firms Bain Capital and Clessidra Capital Partners have agreed one of the largest buyouts since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September, by paying €530m ($741m) for Italian credit checking business Cerved, about a third less than the price sought six months ago.

The price is a significant drop from the vendors' original valuation of about €800m to €850m when the sale process began in June, according to one source close to the process. The vendors were French bank BNP Paribas and Italian banks UniCredit, Intesa Sanpaolo and Monte dei Paschi di Siena.