Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP is advising the banks in connection with private equity firms Investindustrial and The Carlyle Group’s bid to create a design-focused furnishing company by combining several firms into a single group with total sales of more than €500 million. The new company will initially be established by bringing together three businesses currently controlled by Investindustrial — namely furniture-maker B&B Italia, and lighting specialists Flos, and Louis Poulsen.

Carlyle and Investindustrial will hold equal stakes in the new group with the founders of B&B Italia, the Busnelli family, and Flos founder Piero Gandini retaining minority stakes.