PARIS/LONDON, April 16 (Reuters) - Buyout firm AstorgPartners has hired Goldman Sachs to look for a buyer forFrance's leading funeral services firm, OGF, sources familiarwith the mandate said.
The auction of the company, which Astorg acquired for anenterprise value of roughly 300 million euros ($393 million) in2007, is in its early stages and could be complicated by thelinks between economic growth - at a virtual standstill inFrance - and willingness to spend on funeral services.
Still, the company has earnings before interest, taxes,depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of about 100 millioneuros, so could sell for 800 million to 1 billion euros based ontypical multiples for such deals, one of the sources said.
OGF had 2012 revenue of 533 million euros, representingabout a quarter of the French funeral services industry,according to its website.
Astorg Partners and Goldman Sachs both declined to comment. (Reporting by Christian Plumb and Anjuli Davies; Editing byJames Regan)