Permira, the private equity house formerly known as Schroder Ventures, is planning to sell Cognis, the specialty chemical company that it bought last November, through an initial public offering.

The Cognis deal was Permira's first in its new guise and was only completed once Henkel, the vendor, agreed to reduce the price to €2.5bn ($2.4bn), which was a more acceptable price for Permira and its partner in the deal, GS Capital Partners, Goldman Sachs' private equity arm.