Elior, a French food company, has picked five heavy weight banks to run a share placement and convertible bond issue which could raise around €373m ($327.2m).

Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank are jointly leading a share placement of 17.1 million Elior shares, a 16.6% stake, to international institutions which is due to launch in the week of 14 May. Crédit Agricole Indosuez Lazard and Schroder Salomon Smith Barney are co-lead managers.