By Isabell Witt and Claire Ruckin
LONDON, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Nordic private equity firmTriton's plan to take a dividend out of its German chemicalsfirm Ruetgers has been put on hold after renewed interest fromtrade buyers, banking sources said on Wednesday.
Triton was close to issuing a high-yield bond for Ruetgersin September to pay itself a dividend, the sources said.
Triton, which declined to comment, put Ruetgers up for saleearlier in the year with Goldman Sachs running the process.Talks around the sale stalled and Triton considered the dividenddeal instead.
Investor Pamplona, which was in advanced talks to buy thebusiness for more than 600 million euros ($774 million), is nolonger interested, several bankers said.
Indian group Himadri Chemicals also expressed an interest inthe company in March.
There has been no decision about a sale as Triton andpotential buyers are still evaluating a price, one source said.So, the dividend deal remains an option for Triton.
"It is a process that could go either way", the source said.
There has been a recent rise in private equity dividenddeals - known as dividend recapitalisations from 2006 buyoutboom times - as banks seeks new ways to generate fees after alack of takeover activity in the past quarter.
Triton acquired Ruetgers, which makes chemicals from coaltar, in 2008.
($1 = 0.7754 euro)
(Reporting by Isabell Witt; Additional reporting Arno Schuetze;Editing by Dan Lalor)
(isabell.witt@thomsonreuters.com; +44 207 542 1886; ReutersMessaging: isabell.witt.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)
Keywords: RUETGERS TRITON/