The private equity trio, which invested in Brenntag through their Luxembourg holding company Brachem Acquisition SCA, raised a final €611 million ($751.58 million) from the share placement, more than two years after the initial public offering of March 2010.

In Friday's operation, the PE firms sold their remaining 6.87 million shares, or 13.3% of Brenntag's share capital, at €89 a share, in an accelerated bookbuilding process executed by Deutsche Bank AG and Goldman Sachs.

Including the IPO, which priced at just €50 a share, Brachem has raised a total of €2.89 billion from selling shares in the company, most recently in a €577.5 million placement in February.

Brenntag itself raised gross proceeds of €525 million from new shares sold in the IPO. Since its initial listing, the company's market capitalization has increased by around 84%.

The Brachem vehicle is 80% owned by BC Partners, which has made about 3 times its original investment. The private equity firm first bought control of Brenntag for €3 billion in a secondary buyout from Bain in 2006. Bain itself bought the company from German state railway operator Deutsche Bahn AG, together with its steel trading unit Interfer Stahl AG, for €1.4 billion in 2004. Bain declined to comment on its returns.

Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany-based Brenntag, which Deutsche Bahn originally carved out of logistics group Stinnes AG, is today the global market leader in chemical distribution and operates a global network with more than 400 locations in 68 countries. In 2011 it generated sales of €8.7 billion.

London-based BC Partners announced the final closing of its latest €6.5 billion fund earlier this year.