DEERFIELD, Mass. (AP) – Yankee Candle Co. said Wednesday it is being sold in a $1.7 billion deal that boosted the company’s shares to their highest price in a year.

Bruce Besanko, Yankee’s chief financial officer, said the sale to Madison Dearborn Partners LLC won’t mean any layoffs of any of its 5,000 employees or closings among the company’s 400 retail stores in 42 states.

“This is business as usual,” Besanko said. “There will be no change.”

News of the sale, which is expected to be finalized in early 2007 if approved by Yankee shareholders, sent the company’s stock price up 17 percent. Shares rose $5.01 to close at $33.73 on the New York Stock Exchange, above the company’s 52-week high of $30.77.

Craig Rydin, Yankee’s chairman and chief executive officer, the sale “was in the best interest of our shareholders.”

Under the agreement, Madison Dearborn will pay about $1.4 billion in cash – or $34.75 a share – and assume about $300,000 in debt.

Madison Dearborn is a private equity investment firm that specializes in buyouts in five basic industries such as packaging, communications, consumer, financial services and health care. The Chicago-based company raised $6.5 billion in 2006.

“We are delighted to partner with … Yankee Candle management to help build on Yankee’s brand strength and to capitalize on the significant growth opportunities ahead,” said Rob Selati, a managing director at Madison Dearborn.

Also on Wednesday, Yankee Candle said third-quarter net income declined 3 percent to $14.9 million, or 37 cents per share, while revenue rose 17 percent to $159.6 million. Same-store sales – a widely used gauge of industry performance – grew 8 percent, excluding the company’s Illuminations stores.

“They reported a strong third quarter,” said Kathleen Reed, an analyst with Stanford Financial Group. “They have everything going for them that helps drive a good price.”

The scented-candle and accessory company was founded in 1969 by Mike Kittredge, who started making candles in his mother’s kitchen. Kittredge sold the company in 1998 for about $550 million, and resigned as chairman of the company’s board of directors five years later.