By Arno Schuetze and Pamela Barbaglia
FRANKFURT/LONDON, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Loss-making Indian car parts maker Amtek Auto AMTK.NS is expected to shortly shortlist bidders for its German unit Tekfor as soon as next week, a year after starting a bumpy divestment process last year, people close to the matter said.
Amtek, which has switched advisors and is now working with Rothschild ROT.UL on the divestment, has received eight first-round bids for the asset, valuing it at up to 520 million euros ($573 million), one of the sources said.
Seven of the bids came from car parts makers, including a state-owned Chinese firm, while one offer was made by a private equity group, the source added.
People familiar with the industry said they see Spain's CIE CIEA.MC - part-owned by India's Mahindra Group - and Canada's Linamar LNR.TO as having high chances of being shortlisted. It remained unclear whether Japan's Musashi Seimitsu 7220.T , which earlier this year bought peer Hay Group, has also made a competitive offer.
Amtek, Rothschild and the other bidders declined to comment or were not immediately available for comment. ($1 = 0.9071 euros)