The £580 million (736.4 million) sale of Cantrell & Cochrane to a management group backed by British buyout specialist BC Partners is imminent, and may be concluded as early as today, informed sources have told The Irish Times.

The various parties to the deal were keeping a strict silence on the negotiations yesterday, and C&C chief executive Mr Tony O'Brien could not be contacted.

But it is understood that under the final package, the management group headed by Mr O'Brien will take a small equity stake in C&C. The majority of the funding is coming from senior debt, which is debt which has priority, and mezzanine finance, higher-yielding debt typically used in such buyouts.

It is understood investment bankers Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette is leading a syndicate which will provide more than £350 million sterling for the buyout while other banks, including AIB Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland, are involved in the finance package which includes around £85 million sterling (120 million) in mezzanine finance.

While the C&C buyout is going to be heavily leveraged, industry sources believe the involvement of a buyout group like BC Partners is likely to mean that the management group will be supported in its plans to develop C&C in the years ahead.

BC Partners acquired Hurst Publishing (publishers of Auto Trader) last year for £260 million sterling and also bought Ross Breeders, the poultry breeding division of Hillsdown, for just in excess of £100 million sterling. In both acquisitions, BC involved the managements and backed their plans to expand the businesses. "BC aren't an asset-stripping LBO outfit, they have a reputation for backing management," said one source in the venture capital industry in London.

C&C generates substantial free cash - almost £27 million was generated in the year to August 1997 - and this suggests that the company - under its new ownership - should be able to service and pay down the substantial debt associated with the acquisition without recourse to an aggressive asset disposal.