Candover is planning a number of bolt-on acquisitions to increase the market share of Thule, a manufacturer of load carriers for cars, which it has bought from EQT, a Nordic buy-out firm, for €465m ($595m).

The UK listed buy-out firm narrowly beat a competing offer from Nordic Capital in an auction process dominated by financial sponsors including Montagu Private Equity, Warburg Pincus and Investcorp.