Bain in exclusive talks for Citi's Bellsystem-sources

TOKYO, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Bain Capital has won exclusive rights to negotiate with Citigroup Inc (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research) to buy its Japanese telemarketer in a deal that could be worth more than $1 billion, three people with knowledge of the transaction said.

It would be the largest private equity transaction in Japan involving a foreign buyout firm since March 2008. [ID:nT121752]

Bain Capital will retain the right until Friday of this week, the people said, asking not to be identified because the bidding process is not public.

Permira [PERM.UL] and a team of CVC Capital and Blackstone (BX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) also made offers in the final round of bidding for Bellsystem24, which closed on Friday last week, the people said. (Reporting by Wakako Sato and Junko Fujita in Tokyo, Megan Davies in New York and Michael Flaherty in Hong Kong)