(Bloomberg) -- Buyout firm Cinven is looking to refinance business services firm JLA after pulling a planned sale of the UK company, according to people familiar with the matter.

The private equity firm decided to hold onto the business for longer as it felt the offers it received didn’t properly reflect JLA’s growth prospects, the people said. Cinven had been discussing a potential valuation of more than £1 billion ($1.25 billion) with bidders, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information. 

Cinven is now negotiating with direct lenders as it pursues a roughly £650 million refinancing, which could include a unitranche loan of around £500 million, with about £150 million of undrawn loans on top, the people said.

A representative for Cinven declined to comment.

Private equity firms are stepping up divestments in order to return cash to their investors. Still, they face a fragile market for dealmaking amid high interest rates, with large transactions sometimes falling apart because of the gap between buyer and seller expectations.

KKR & Co. shelved a sale process for Upfield, the maker of Flora and Country Crock spreads, that was seeking to raise about $10 billion, Bloomberg News reported last month. 

Cinven acquired JLA from Hg in 2018. The company provides commercial laundry, catering, heating and fire safety equipment and services to customers across the UK.

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