Lloyds Banking Group's private equity unit LDC is in talks to acquire legal outsourcing company CPA Global for £400 million ($666 million), the Financial Times reported today.

CPA Global, which is based in Jersey in the Channel Islands, offers a range of general legal and intellectual property support services.

The Financial Times said apart from LDC there was a further suitor for CPA Global with final bids due next month.

LDC has completed 10 buy-outs this year, a sixth of all deals and three times more than any rival.

LDC invests directly from the balance sheet of Lloyds, which is 43.5 per cent owned by the government after a taxpayer-financed bail-out of the bank last year.

According to the Financial Times, the flurry of deals by LDC could prove to be controversial.