One Equity Partners, the private equity business of Bank One of the US, is in advanced talks to buy LBC, the chemicals storage division of the debt-burdened French holding company Fimalac.

The sale, for an undisclosed amount, should be finalised before the end of the year, according to a person advising Fimalac. It is part of a debt reduction plan announced by Fimalac in January and followed, a month later, by a €100m ($112.4m) rights issue.