British private equity firm 3i Group has kicked off the sale of Azelis, a Belgium headquartered chemicals distributor with €1 billion euros in sales, people familiar with the situation said.

London-listed 3i has hired Bank of America Merrill Lynch to sell the company, which it acquired in 2007 in a €315 million deal, two people said.

The firm hopes to run a tightly controlled auction process, focusing on potential trade buyers, one of those people said. 3i declined to comment.