Goldman Sachs Capital Partners and KKR are nearing a deal with Shandong Heavy Industry, China's biggest bulldozer maker, to sell a stake in German forklift truck group Kion. 

According to Manager Magazin, a 25 per cent stake in the manufacturer is up for sale with a €700m to €800m price tag. 

Kion, bought out in 2006 in a deal that valued the business at some €4bn, is Europe's number one business for forklift trucks and warehouse equipment and the biggest foreign player in China. 

The market leader employs 22,000 people and last year generated €4.4bn in sales and adjusted operating income of €365m.

GS Capital Partners and KKR put around €1bn of their own money into the 2006 deal and had to top up the investment with €100m in 2009 to relax banking covenants. 

As well as putting up new money, the company then agreed to pay more interest on its outstanding debt, upping payments on all senior tranches by an extra 150 basis points, and an extra 50 basis points on its junior debt. 

Shandong has already shown its appetite for European assets after it bought luxury yacht maker Ferretti, a write-off for Permira, from Royal Bank of Scotland at the beginning of the year.