Douglas prepares to sell Hussel sweet shop chain

FRANKFURT - German beauty-to-books retailer Douglas is preparing to divest its Hussel confectionary stores, German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported on Tuesday.

Prospective buyers including retailers and financial investors were given documents on Hussel, Germany's largest confectionary chain, the newspaper cited industry and financial sources as saying.

Douglas, which was taken private by financial investor Advent International and the Kreke family this year, was not immediately available to comment. Advent declined to comment.

Hussel had sales of 100 million euros ($136 million) in the fiscal year through September 2012, according to the latest publicly available annual report.

Douglas, which traces its roots to a Hussel store opened in 1949, has repeatedly said it would actively manage its portfolio, both by acquisitions and disposals.

It aims to complete its purchase of French perfumery chain Nocibe in the first half of next year and is on the look-out for more acquisitions, it said last month.

$1 = 0.7360 euros