A subsidiary of Schneider Electric, a French engineering company, has received bids from a consortium comprising Carlyle and PAI as well as chipmaker Avago Technologies. 

The sale of Schneider's Custom Sensors & Technologies (CST) was postponed last month owing to unfavourable market conditions. The unit could be worth as much as €1bn. Avago is thought to be the favourite to win the bid. 

CST's products are used in automotive, aeronautics and energy industries. The division has 4,700 employees and reported sales of $660m (€540.7m) last year.

Schneider Electric has been among the more acquisitive electrical engineering companies of late, having spent $3.8bn last year on takeovers that included Spanish software company Telvent GIT. Emmanuel Babeau, chief financial officer of Schneider Electric, said that the pace of acquisitions will increase later in the year.