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FRANKFURT/DUESSELDORF — Thyssenkrupp on Thursday said it agreed to sell its elevators division to a consortium of Advent, Cinven and Germany’s RAG foundation for 17.2 billion euros ($18.7 billion).

The bidding group prevailed against a rival consortium comprising Blackstone, Carlyle and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year, Thyssenkrupp said.

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Frankfurt-listed shares in Thyssenkrupp rose 3.4%.

The group said it would reinvest about 1.25 billion euros to take a stake in the unit, which, based on the purchase price, would result in a 7.3% share.

The decision, which followed a meeting of Thyssenkrupp’s management and supervisory boards, concludes the closely watched saga of Europe’s biggest buyout since 2007 and the world’s largest this year.

By far the German conglomerate’s most profitable business, Thyssenkrupp Elevator is the world’s fourth-largest lift manufacturer behind United Technologies Corp’s Otis, Switzerland’s Schindler and Finnish rival Kone . ($1 = 0.9201 euros) (Reporting by Christoph Steitz, Edward Taylor and Matthias Inverardi; Editing by Mark Potter, Kirsten Donovan)