A lot of movement has been going on with the French fashion labels of Maje, Claudie Pierlot and Sandro up for grabs, and bidding is underway between numerous companies to snatch them up. With a growing worldwide market and the chance to keep popular labels out of the hands of competition, the purchasing could get pretty intense.

Private equity firms including Carlyle (CG.O) and KKR (KKR.N) this week submitted non-binding offers for control of French fashion brands Maje, Sandro and Claudie Pierlot, sources familiar with the transaction told Reuters.

The auction of the brands, known for their trendy and affordable ready-to-wear garments, has generated close interest in part because of a dearth of similar assets of that size on the market, one of the sources said.

First-round bids submitted on Tuesday gave the three brands - partly controlled by France's richest man, luxury goods mogul Bernard Arnault - an enterprise value of more than 650 million euros ($880 million), the sources said. Read More