Private equity groups, Carlyle Group and Bain Capital, have entered a joint venture to bid for French engineering company Spie, The Wall Street Journal reports. French private equity firm, PAI Partners, is the seller of the engineering company.

Spie is valued at between €1.5 billion and €2 billion. PAI acquired its stake in Spie in July 2006 for about €1 billion.

Click here for the story from The Wall Street Journal.