Engineering companies ABB Ltd and Schneider Electric are among second-round bidders for a private equity-owned China cleantech asset that could fetch as much as $700 million, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.

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The sources told Reuters Switzerland's ABB and France's Schneider were among bidders for Beijing Leader & Harvest Technologies Co, an asset that has drawn strong interest from around six global and local buyers in the second round.

The sale could see co-owners Affinity Equity Partners and Unitas Capital earn more than thrice their initial investment of around $200 million for an asset they acquired in late 2009.

The sources declined to be named because the discussions were private.

Deutsche Bank is running a dual-track sale and IPO process for Beijing Leader, which makes energy-saving devices for heavy equipment commonly used in mines, power generation and water industries.

The sale of Beijing Leader offers global multinationals a rare opportunity to acquire an entire company in China.

The China government's emphasis on energy saving, together with the company's China distribution network, has also drawn strong interest from others, who placed second-round bids last week.

ABB, Affinity, Deutsche and Unitas declined to comment. Schneider did not return calls requesting comment.

Beijing Leader has 700 employees and is headquartered in the Zhongguancun Science & Technology Park in Beijing, according to its website.