Générale de Santé, the French healthcare group, has appointed Rothschild, Citigroup and Clinvest to find buyers for a 39.5% stake held by a consortium of private equity investors.

The sale of the €154m ($169m) holding underlines the active state of the French buy-out market, which has been the busiest in continental Europe in the past 18 months. The consortium of private equity firms is looking at a possible secondary buy-out, but is also in discussions with several potential trade buyers.