CVC set to buy Italian data company Cerved European private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, which is preparing to raise up to €11bn for a buyout fund this year, is to buy Cerved Group, a corporate intelligence and rating agency based in Milan, according to people close to the situation. The deal, signed on December 31, values the company at about €1.13bn, one of the people said. IN Financials CVC, based in Luxembourg but with its largest office in London, beat London rival Permira to secure the deal, the people said. BC Partners had also expressed an interest. Cerved operates a group of businesses that collect and aggregate data and intelligence on companies. Last month, it suspended a high-yield bond offering when its private equity owners, Bain Capital and Clessidra, decided to sell it rather than raise further capital, according to people with knowledge of the situation. HSBC has been advising on the sale. Bain Capital and Clessidra are making about 2.7 times their initial investment, one of the people with knowledge of the terms said. The private equity firms bought Cerved from a group of banks in December 2008. The company sells financial reports - and details of their board members, shareholders and credit histories - to clients, mainly banks. It also has a rating business as well as a real estate unit, and generates most of its revenues in Italy. After the purchase, the company was then combined with another owned by Bain Capital and has since increased its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation from about €100m to more than €140m. CVC is investing about €350m and using about €780m of debt to fund the deal, one of the people said on Wednesday.