LONDON, United Kingdom — European private equity firm Investindustrial has invited the investment vehicle of Alibaba's founder Jack Ma to join a consortium offering to buy L'Oréal's The Body Shop for more than €800 million (£697 million), sources familiar with the matter said on Friday.

Hong Kong-based Blue Pool Capital has been asked to team up with Investindustrial and Brazil's GP Investments, one of Latin America's largest private equity funds in making a bid for the British-based cosmetics retailer, the sources said.

European private equity fund CVC Capital Partners is also planning to submit a rival offer ahead of a June 7 deadline for final bids.

Another buyout firm, Advent, has decided to drop out of the contest, the sources said.

L'Oréal has asked prospective bidders to table offers of no less than 800 million euros, said the sources.

L'Oréal, Investindustrial and GP Investments declined to comment while no one at Blue Pool Capital was available for comment outside of regular business hours.

Spokesmen at Advent and CVC all declined to comment.

By Pamela Barbaglia; editor: Greg Mahlich.